Paper Mario: the Ori Game
by Gamerowak
Summary: Join Mario in this new adventure as he travels to a new part of the Paper World and be joined by old friends and frenemies to save the princess from Bowser once again. Though, not everything is as black and white as it appears to be as Mario will find out the truth behind this heinous crime.
1. Introduction

**PAPER MARIO: THE ORI GAME**

 **Introduction: A New Technology (and Threat)**

Today was a brand new day. The sun just rose and the birds sang. Inside a small house in the middle of a forest, there lived two human plumbers. One was still asleep in his bed, the other just woke up. The sleeper was Mario. Everyone knew him. Those who did not had to be living under a rock. He was sleeping comfortably in his bed until a clock placed on a table next to his bed rang. He suddenly jumped out his bed with an optimistic look on his face. Though most people would have kept sleeping despite the clock, Mario could not wait for the day to come. He gently tapped a small button on the top of the clock and it went silent. He was already suited in his blue overall and red attires for the day. It was quite ridiculous to think he slept in these last night but, like everyone else in this world, he was just a sheet of paper. Some people had to spend a fortune to get a second sheet of paper to change their attire. Nonetheless, Mario went to the kitchen where his little brother Luigi already was, reading a letter. Mario took a look at the letter. It was an invitation to Peach's Castle for tonight. They ate breakfast, made of eggs, toasts, and bacon, and left the house. Outside, a parakoopa was already working, placing a letter inside their mailbox. They waved at each other and the parakoopa left through the sky with the wings on his shell. There was no way to get to their house other than a pipe. Here, they had perfect tranquility, far away from the noise living in even a town would have brought. The brothers opened their mailbox and took a look at the letter the parakoopa put. It was a reminder of the special event that would take place tonight. Without hesitating, they both jumped into the pipe.

They travelled at an insane speed. Though it was not the speed of sound, it was still fast. They left through another pipe and found themselves at a station with many pipes and toads. The toads were waiting for the pipes to switch destinations and had their luggage with them. The plumbers left the station and were now in a city. All the buildings here were built with marble and mostly toads lived here. Some koopas and goombas also resided in the city but they were very few here. The plumbers headed north in the city, passing by all the markets on the main streets and the children playing. They arrived at a gate where some guards stood. With their spears, they barred the route to pass the gate.

"Halt! This is a restricted area! State your business!" One of the guards ordered.

Even if they knew who the plumbers were, the guards had to do their job and make sure they were not deceived. It happened one too many times where one or many malicious visitor would sneak in disguised and cause havoc inside the castle. The havoc would then spread all across the world but the plumbers were always the ones who stopped it. Though, it never happened once where someone pretended to be them. Luigi pulled the letter out of his pocket and showed it to the guards. The guards took the letter and examined it with caution. They pulled out some documents and books and searched into these to make sure the letter complied with the rules. Once they finished, they put the books and documents away and gave back the letter with a smile.

"Thank you, sirs! You may proceed. The princess will be waiting for you in the throne room." The other guard concluded.

The guards opened the gates leading to a gigantic castle far away. The plumbers carried on. They reached a stone bridge that was built right before the entrance to the castle. An old toad holding a cane was standing on the bridge and went to meet the newcomers.

"Ah! Good morning, Masters Mario and Luigi! I've been waiting for you as soon as I woke up!" The old toad greeted.

The plumbers shook the toad's hand and entered the castle together. The throne room was high up in the castle so they had to climb a few stairs until they reached the fourth floor. The throne room was a vast octagonal room painted like it was nighttime. A giant clock stood on the wall and gave the current time. It was ten in the morning, way too early for the invitation. Though, the plumbers still insisted on coming that early as they always did for all the other times they were invited. A throne was placed right in front of the clock with a princess sitting.

"Mistress Peach, your friends have arrived!" The toad announced.

The princess stood up her seat and walked to the group.

"Thank you, Toadsworth. You are dismissed for this morning. I will call you back when I need you." Peach politely said.

With that, Toadsworth left the throne room first. The others stayed for a little while and chatted about the day. Since they were very early before the event, they spent the day playing golf on a private course built behind the castle. They had been playing golf for years and they were getting better at the sport. Everyone would have expected Mario to be the best at it but Luigi beat him this time. Luigi was a fast learner compared to his big brother. Their golf game lasted a few hours so they had to find something else to do this afternoon. The event was only at 6pm after all. They took a walk in town to admire the activity. Naturally, many toads stopped to see them and some of them asked for autographs from the plumbers. After their walk, they returned to the castle just before the event.

Evening arrived. Everything was set for the night but some last-minute changes happened. Peach had to see her advisor to know of them.

"Mistress Peach, I've receive a message from Princess Daisy saying she won't be able to come to the event due to an impediment." Toadsworth first announced.

"I really wish she could come tonight. Tonight's an important night and I would've wanted her to witness it." Peach replied.

"Additionally, King Bowser has yet to confirm if he can come. I've heard rumors he felt sick and will sent a representative instead."

"I see. Is there anything else?"

"Ah yes! Birdo won't be able to come to bring entertainment under the form of music. We do have another person on that list that could fill this place but…"

"This person could also act as Bowser's representative. That way, Bowser won't have to send two persons when he could only send one. Please, prepare a "get well soon" wish card to Bowser and mention we will take his candidate as entertainer for tonight." Peach concluded.

The group went to an auditorium where many toads were already sat. Toadsworth first had to do what Peach told him before he could join them back. They went on the stages where they had a few seats ready. They each took a seat but there remained a few others. Two would have obviously been for Daisy and Bowser considering how big one of the two was. As for the last one, no one knew. Toadsworth noticed the excess chair and looked at Peach.

"Remind me, Mistress Peach. What was the event about again?" Toadsworth asked.

"Do you know of the origamis of the Rainbow Continent?" Peach asked back.

"Why yes I do! How could I forget about them? They said that Princess Ori, the daughter of Lord Igami, will be here tonight to present us a revolutionary technology that will change our lives. Do you think they will finally reveal their biggest secret?"

"I don't know. I never met one of them in person. Somehow, I have a feeling something will go wrong tonight."

"Don't say that, Mistress Peach! Bowser finally stopped with his absurd plans of taking you away! We finally made peace with the koopas! What could possibly go wrong? Who else would want to harm you?"

Peach did not say anything. She looked up to the ceiling, expecting something to happen. An earthquake happened. All the toads screamed and left their seat. They ran around, not knowing what to do. Toadsworth stood up on his chair and pulled out a megaphone from his vest.

"LISTEN UP, EVERYONE! THIS IS NOT A DRILL! PLEASE REMAIN CALM AND WALK SLOWLY TO THE BASEMENT TO THE SHELTER! THE GUARDS WILL GUIDE YOU THERE!" Toadsworth shouted through the megaphone.

He managed to calm down the toads who listened to him. While he was escorting the toads to safety, the others remained behind. Peach kept staring at the ceiling. Then, giant claws went through the wall and the ceiling. The claws torn the roof away, revealing a giant Bowser. It was not like the original one who was just a sheet of paper like everyone else. This one was three-dimensional and seemed much stronger than the real one. It roared once and all the toads panicked again. This time, Toadsworth could not do anything to calm them down. With its giant hand, the three-dimensional Bowser first took away the princess. It had her wrapped in its giant fingers rendering her unable to move.

"Help me!" The princess screamed as the monster slowly took her away.

Mario and Luigi wanted to help her but they did not notice the monster's other hand about to squash them. It was too late though. The plumbers instantly blacked out. Bowser had returned to take the princess away once again and this time he had a new and infallible way to do so. All sounds slowly died down. They could still hear the princess screaming for help but they could not do anything now.


	2. Prologue

**Prologue: To the Rainbow Continent**

The sounds of screaming toads and destruction died down a long time ago but Mario was still unable to act. He was blacked out after all. Even if he was a hero to the Mushroom Kingdom, he had his own limits.

"Hello?" A voice called out.

Though it was female, it was not Peach. Unlike the princess's soothing and polite voice, it was a more sophisticated one with an ounce of adventure. Adventure was calling out for Mario to take him somewhere far away where he would fight Bowser once again. Mario struggled hard to open his eyes but eventually succeeded. He was seeing everything incredible blurry and still dark. It was impossible for him to distinguish anyone in particular so he had to wait a little more. His vision lightened up and became clearer. Once he could finally recognize shape, he realized he was lying down on the floor. He could feel the wooden floor of the stage. He was not moved that far away. Hovering over his face, he saw a strange creature. It looked like a small white three-dimensional swan with blue bright eyes. The creature moved aside to let Mario get back on his feet.

"What happened here?" The creature asked.

Mario raised his shoulders. Perhaps he did not see what happened or, surely, he must have lost his memory when he got knocked out.

"You don't know. Well, it seems like whatever happened here was the undoing of something big." The creature brought up.

Mario looked around him and saw all the damage that was caused on the castle. Walls were still falling apart everywhere and the roof crashed on the floor leaving big piles of debris scattered around. Toads were already working to clean up the mess. It was early in the morning. The sun was just rising from its slumber. Mario looked back at the creature.

"Oh, where are my manners? I'm…" The creature began.

Luigi came back with a Toadsworth and a group of toads. There were worried about Mario's condition so they sought medical attention to attend to him. Though, it seemed somewhat pointless since Mario woke up but the toads stayed to threat Mario's injuries. He was not that wounded despite having been crushed by a giant hand. Everyone then noticed the creature.

"Are you, by any mean, Princess Ori?" Toadsworth asked.

"Me? No. I'm just a poor lonesome origami, far away from home. I just stumbled across this place and I wanted to see if I could help anyone." The creature answered.

"But who are you if you're not a princess?"

"I am Maggie. I come from far away; so far away I forgot where I used to live."

"Well, I am Toadsworth, Princess Peach's royal advisor. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Princess Peach? I always wanted to see a princess from my own eyes."

"Unfortunately, something bad happened yesterday and she was taken away. Bowser's at it again."

"Whoever this Bowser is, he must be punished!"

A toad arrived with a sheet a paper in his hands.

"Sir! We found this message in the debris." The toad said as he lent the sheet to Toadsworth.

Everyone gathered around the old toad and looked at the sheet. It was a letter with the following written on it:

" _MWAHAHAHAHAHAH!_

 _I HAV KIDNAP PEACH ONCE AGAIN AND IF U WAN AGAIN COM 2 THE SILVER PALACE!_

 _BOWZER!"_

"The Silver Palace? Oh no! He must have gotten his hand on the origami power!" Maggie declared.

"Excuse me but what is this power exactly?" Toadsworth asked.

"With that, he could reshape the world at will. Such power is highly dangerous in the hands of someone like him. We must…"

"Look out!"

Everyone looked around. Some toads were running away from brown three-dimensional goombas. Mario naturally went to confront the monsters. Maggie followed him. Mario first stomped on a goomba but it did not seem to do much damage.

"Hold on! I can give you something that will help you. I always bring one of these with me." Maggie said.

Mario looked back at the origami who summoned a deck of cards. Mario took it and took a look at the cards. Some cards had pictures of shoes or hammers; others have pictures of various objects like flowers. The top left corner of each card had a small heart with a number in it. The top right corner had a small flower with a number. Most cards had a zero in the flower. The bottom left corner had a fist with a number in it. Mario was only able to have five cards in his hands. The rest of his deck went in his pocket.

"Here, use this Multibounce cards on those monsters." Maggie proposed.

Mario pulled out a card with the picture of a blue shoe on it from his hand. The card vanished once pulled and Mario ran to the monsters. He stomped on each goomba once and they were all squashed. The monsters vanished and left behind small orbs with stars in them that Maggie collected.

"Don't worry about the cards. They are reusable and will return in the bottom of your deck. Only Consumable Cards like mushrooms are single use. Those small orbs are Star Points. They will help you become stronger." Maggie brought up.

The battle was over. Mario looked at Maggie.

"You want me to help you save Peach?" Maggie asked.

Mario nodded.

"Great! I know where the Silver Palace is. We'll have to get the first boat to the Rainbow Continent." Maggie proposed.

Mario went back to Luigi and Toadsworth to tell the new.

"That's amazing! Unfortunately, I'll have to stay here, Master Mario, the time to clean up this mess." Toadsworth said.

Luigi agreed to come with Mario. He was not much of a fighter but he had many hidden talents on his own. The small group left to the docks. There was quite a lot of activity today. Toads loaded the boats, boats sailing to and away from the dock, passengers waited for their boat to arrive. Mario and Luigi followed Maggie to a boat stationed near the farthest dock. They were greeted by a funny-looking human who spoke gibberish. The human asked the group their destination in his language.

"Yes, I would like to get three tickets to Miitropolis, please." Maggie said.

She then turned to the plumbers.

"Miitropolis is the capital of the Rainbow Continent if we don't count the Silver Palace. There are ten major settlements on the continent: Scarlet Town, Flaxen City, Azure Cove, Tangerine Resort, Verdant Village, Bowser City, Hazel Citadel, Snowy Suburbs, Coal City and Iron Fortress." Maggie explained.

The human said something to which the origami reacted.

"Is that so? Bowser City was destroyed? How long?" Maggie asked.

The human said another thing and Maggie reacted even more.

"That long!? Wow… It has been a while since I left the Rainbow Continent." Maggie sighed.

Nonetheless, the small group boarded the ship and sailed away. It was a rather calm journey to a place the plumbers had never gone before. It was a long trip too. The sun had time to set and the night arrived. Maggie could not sleep even with how quiet it was tonight. She went to the front of the boat and stared at the horizon. They were like in the middle of nowhere. Maggie could only see water whatever way she looked. She heard footsteps and looked behind her. Mario just showed up.

"Hi! I forgot to ask your name earlier. So, what's your name?" Maggie asked.

Truth be told, she was not listening when Toadsworth was speaking to them before they left. Mario told his name. Maggie gasped.

"You're that Mario!? Wow! I never thought I'd be seeing you in my life!" Maggie said.

Mario let out a small chuckle.

"I know. I should know about you. Gosh, I look like I've been living under a rock." Maggie said, embarrassed.

It did not matter for Mario. He was not the type of people who demanded everyone he met to know him. He kept staring at his new friend.

"What was I doing? Oh, I don't know, just look at the night and its many stars." Maggie said.

She looked back at the sky. She just caught a shooting star.

"Look, Mario! Make a wish!" She said.

They kept looking at the star until it vanished. Maggie looked back at Mario.

"You must have wished to find Peach safe and sound." The origami guessed.

Mario nodded. He then pointed her.

"Me? I don't know. I don't have many things I wish for. I've seen everything." She answered.

She yawned. They both returned inside the boat and slept. The next day, they made it to Miitropolis. It was a very big city with more humans living here. Once the small group left the port, they went to the center of the city. It was a lot like Toad Town except its inhabitants were more of those funny-looking humans. They came in all shapes and sizes.

"This place is big. I didn't recall being that big since my last visit here. Let's find a place to stay then we'll discuss what to do." Maggie proposed.

The plumbers did not object. They walked around in the city and eventually found a hotel. They entered inside and saw a weird looking koopa in what seemed to be a big white bowl with a clown face and hovering a few inches above ground with a green propeller. It was yelling at the humans inside for an unknown reason. The koopa suddenly stopped when he saw the small group.

"You again!?" The koopa yelled.

Judging by its voice and look, it was definitively a child. Maggie looked at Mario, confused.

"You know him, Mario?" She asked.

Mario nodded. Maggie not knowing the koopa, the latter became infuriated.

"How do you not know of me!?" The koopa yelled again.

"I've never seen you before." Maggie confessed.

"I am Bower Jr, the koopa prince! Show me respect!"

"Bowser as in Bowser's son? So you're responsible of destroying Peach's castle."

This single accusation blew the conversation between Maggie and Bowser Jr into a full-scale dispute.

"We did not do it this time!" The koopa prince shouted.

"Like I'll believe you! Then I'll be Princess Ori!" Maggie sarcastically shouted back.

The humans around them gasped. They all gathered around Maggie who became irritated.

"I'm not actually her, guys! It was being sarcastic! You won't believe what he just said, right?" Maggie said.

The humans looked at each other and stepped back. The small group just noticed the prince pulled out a deck of cards.

"Let's fight!" Bowser Jr declared.

The humans stepped back even further, scared. Luigi stepped back too. It was Mario and Maggie against the koopa prince. Each participant pulled out five cards from their deck. The prince began with a card depicting a cannon ball. The mouth on the hovering bowl opened up and cannon came out. It fired a cannon ball at Mario. Maggie quickly pulled out a card with a raccoon tail on it. Raccoon ears and tail appeared on Mario who swung the cannon ball back at the prince. It was a heavy it as it blew up on the prince's face leaving his face black with the burnt gunpowder.

"What I pulled out from your hand is a Defense Card. You can only play those on the foe's turn to protect yourself in various ways." Maggie explained.

"That's not fair! You had something against my attack!" The prince yelled.

It was now Mario's turn. He looked carefully at his cards.

"First, use this hammer card. Equip Cards doesn't us up your turn but you can only have one in use at the time." Maggie said.

Mario pulled out the hammer card and a hammer appeared in his hand.

"Some Action Cards require you to have a certain Equip Card in use. By example, This Hammer Throw Card requires you to have a hammer card in use." Maggie added.

Mario pulled out the Hammer Throw Card. He began swinging his hammer around until he threw it at the prince. It was another heavy it. The prince received the hammer right in the face. It left a big bump on the forehead.

"That's it! I'm out of here!" The prince shouted.

He then pressed a button inside his bowl. The propeller under went inside the bowl and wheels came out on the side. He prince accelerated toward the duo who barely managed to move aside to not get run over. The prince left the hotel but looked back at Mario.

"I'll get you next time, pesky plumber! If it wasn't for you friend teaching you how to play I'd have won this time!" The prince concluded before speeding out to the horizon.

The humans around were mad at the prince. It was a tradition for them to always finish a card game even if everything seemed lost. They all gathered around the winner and congratulated them. The small group did not have time for that. They rented a room for today and went to it where they discussed of their plan to reach the Silver Palace. Maggie pulled out a map of the Rainbow continent. On it, Miitropolis was between the Red, the Blue and the Yellow regions. Behind them were the Orange, the Green and the Purple regions. Behind those was the Brown region and after that the White and the Black regions. At the very end, the Grey region was there.

"Alright, guys. The Silver Palace is in the Grey Region on the other side of the Rainbow Continent but going there will take us many days. We can't directly go there though because only origamis or people with a special permission can reach the palace. I know another way to reach it. There are nine other regions with each having an Origami Star. Those are guarded by powerful guardians who are origamis much stronger than the goomba ones we fought yesterday. We're gonna need on the way so we'll stop to the corresponding town. Plus, some Origami Stars have an additional condition to be acquired. By example, we need two primary Origami Stars, like the red and the blue ones, to get the purple one. So, for now, we can only get the red, the blue and the yellow ones. Which one do you want to get first?" Maggie explained.

The plumbers looked at the map and they both pointed the Red region.

"Alright, it's a long way there so we'll have to find some wheels." Maggie pointed out.

Luigi immediately left the room. Mario and Maggie took the time to pack up before leaving. Once they were outside, Luigi was already waiting at the entrance in a green go-kart. A second seat was placed behind him.

"Cool! I always wanted to ride a go-kart and race others but, since I have no arms…" Maggie said.

Her excitement died down when she remembered she could not drive it herself. Mario sat on the back seat and held Maggie in his hands. The go-kart's engine ran and the small group rode into Miitropolis then outside to the west where the Red region was.


	3. Chapter Red 1

**RED CHAPTERS: FIERY PASSION**

 **Chapter Red 1: Hot Pepper Ashlands**

The small group must have been driving for an hour. They left Miitropolis a while ago and the landscape changed from the crystalline skyscraper to red wastelands. They reached a gate where one of those quirky-looking human stopped them. It was wearing a mask and goggles. The group parked the car near the gate.

"I forgot to mention this to you guys. Those humans we keep seeing are miis. It's said they've evolved from humans and developed their own language." Maggie brought up.

The two plumbers stared at her.

"Oh yeah. I stayed here a few years but it was a long time ago. That's how I learned their language. Though they can understand our standard language, they can't speak it anymore." Maggie added.

They went to see the mii waving at them. The mii brought them masks to cover their mouth and nose and goggles for the eyes.

"What are those for?" Maggie asked.

Just as she asked this, a strong blow of wind rushed to her carrying with it some red powder. Maggie received the powder in her face and let out a small scream. The mii rushed in his outpost and came back with a bottle of water and a towel. The mii spread water on Maggie's eyes to clean her and gave her the towel to dry out.

"I get it. Winds carry hot pepper powder." Maggie said.

The small group took some goggles and masks and wore them. They were now protected from the powder. The mii explained in his language that it was forbidden to use any motorized vehicle in this area to keep the hot pepper powder mostly put. The small group continued on foot toward the unknown. There was still a road leading to somewhere but the wind carrying hot pepper powder prevented them to see far away. As they walked down the road, a small pack of three-dimensional fiery salamander rose from the red ashes that covered the region and ambushed them. Mario pulled out cards from his deck and looked carefully at them. He first used a hammer card to equip himself with one then used a Quake Hammer to beat all the monsters here but one. The surviving one breathed fire on Mario who blocked it but still received damage. It was Mario's turn again but Maggie stopped him before he could do anything.

"Hold on! That's a great occasion to show you something you can do with creatures. I have a deck of blank cards with me to show you." Maggie said.

She summoned her deck and took a card from it. She approached the salamander and waved the card at it. The salamander got sucked into the card. Maggie gave the card to Mario. The salamander was now a useable card for him.

"That's strange. I would've thought they'd be more of Bowser's minions as origamis, not the local wildlife. Usually, the wildlife doesn't attack anyone or anything unless they're bothered. Anyway, I made you a Monster Card. Like consumables, they are single use but you can use them to attack your foes or draw their attention. You can only make Monster Cards if the monster is weakened enough." Maggie explained.

They kept walking for a while. The storm died down and they were able to see a volcano far away.

"That's Red Mountain. If there's an Origami Star somewhere it has to be in there. Scarlet Town is right at its foot." Maggie said.

The volcano was erupting and spread a grey substance all over its slopes. The plumbers got worried.

"Don't worry guys. If I remember, Scarlet Town has a way to redirect lava away. I'm sure it'll work with this too but it's weird for a volcano to produce such thing." Maggie added.

This reassured the plumbers. They were the type of people who would care for everyone and would usually blame themselves if they could not be somewhere to help. They walked some more until they reached Scarlet Town. It looked more like a small settlement than anything with its houses made of straws but those were quite big. Miis inhabiting this town seemed worried though. The small group went to see one of them.

"What's wrong?" Maggie asked.

The mii explained something in his language and pointed away, toward the volcano. This frightened Maggie.

"The way to redirect the lava doesn't work with this substance!? So you had to evacuate half of the town into the other half!? I see then." The origami said.

She turned back to the plumbers.

"Well, I guess all the hotels will be overbooked. He said that the substance still manages to make its way down here because it doesn't emit enough heat for the sensors to activate the redirectors. He also said that, whenever someone gets in contact with this substance, the people become crazy and fight each other. Let's not stay here too long then." She concluded.

The small group walked down the main street. They heard someone singing and were led away from the main street by the magnificent voice. They entered one of those jazz bars and took the first table available to them. The place was quite full as many miis were listening to music but not any. A pink dinosaur humanoid with a funnel mouth wearing a red ribbon on its head sang:

 **A burdened heart sinks into the ground;**

 **A veil falls away without a sound;**

 **Not day nor night, wrong nor right;**

 **For truth and peace you fight;**

 **Sing with me a song of silence and blood;**

 **The rain falls, but can't wash away the mud;**

 **Within my ancient heart dwells madness and pride;**

 **Can no one hear my cry.**

The crowd applauded the performance. The plumbers recognized the dinosaur and waved at her. The dinosaur noticed them.

"Thank you everyone! I'll have to take a break for now! See you next time!" The dinosaur said.

She then made a hand gesture to the small group to come in the backroom. The group followed her to a small room in the back used for performers to prepare and rest. The dinosaur sat in front of the mirror to readjust her ribbon.

"So, who are you and why did you bring us here?" Maggie asked.

"I'm Birdo. I'm a friend to Mario and Luigi and I wanted to see them." The dinosaur answered.

"That's it?"

"Well, in fact, I wanted to investigate what was going on with the volcano but I didn't want to go there alone."

"That's great! It just so happened we were headed right there. But, can you fight in case we have to? Luigi here can't fight."

"Of course I can, sweetie. I have my own deck of cards."

Birdo pulled a drawer and took out a deck of cards. Maggie examined the cards and was impressed. There were pictures of sport accessories and different projectiles. Though, there seemed to be no Defence Cards in her deck.

"Where are your defenses?" Maggie asked.

"Ah yes, I can't use defenses unless I'm equipped with an accessory to deflect projectiles. I can also catch projectiles with my mouth to spit them back on my next turn." Birdo explained.

"Well, at least you seem to be able to fight so we'll take you with us to the volcano."

They returned outside and saw many miis running away. They looked from what the miis were running and saw a hug mass of grey substance slowly burying buildings.

"Oh no! We have to go now!" Maggie exclaimed.

The group tried to run away but a group of red dragon origamis blocked their way. Mario used a Power Bounce to repeatedly stomp on one of them until the dragon was beaten. Birdo used a golf club card and smacked one of them. The dragons threw fireballs at them but Birdo managed to catch them all with her mouth. She spat them afterward at the dragons but it did not seem to damage them that much. So, on her turn, she used an Egg Bomb Card and spat an egg-shaped projectile at the dragons. It blew in the face of one of them and its area of effect extended to the others, beating them. They dropped a large amount of Star Points which Maggie collected. The substance moved closer to them.

"We have to find some high ground now!" Maggie said.

The group looked around and spotted a radio tower.

"I have an idea." Maggie added.

She unfolded herself to become a sheet of paper. She then grew up in size and folded herself into a hawk. The others climbed on her back and she flew to the top of the radio tower where many miis were hanging on. Our heroes got on the tower and Maggie reverted back to normal. They watched as the grey substance slowly roamed through Scarlet Town like lava. The substance slowly faded away when it got too far from the volcano. Everyone went back down on the streets to analyse the damage it caused. Though everything seemed to be intact and everyone seemed fine, some quarrels began between the miis. Those one were obviously victim of the substances. Those miis were quickly apprehended by sane ones and put somewhere out of public view. Maggie reverted to her normal form.

"Wow, they were not joking when they said this. Though it did not seem like a fight, I'm sure it could've degenerated into one if no one stopped them." Maggie let out.

"Those have been happening for a while, sweetie." Birdo pointed out.

"How long?"

"It must've been five years ago. The half of the city adjacent to the volcano has been evacuated since then. People here live in constant fear of the substance as there is no way to purge it let alone contain it."

"It seems like it disappears when it reached a certain distance from the volcano."

"Ah yes, it's a strange pattern everyone noticed. The substance coming out of the volcano never leaves further than the town. The reason behind this is a mystery."

A mii wearing a suit went to see them with a few policemen. The mii spoke to the group.

"He wants to follow him to his office." Maggie translated.

The small group were escorted inside a town hall and into an office. The mii sat behind a desk while the group took seat in front of it. Another mii came in and gave some earplugs to the visitor. The group wore them.

"Can you understand me?" The mii asked.

Everyone nodded.

"Excellent! Sorry for that inconvenience back then. We're working on a way to redirect the substance but it always takes a different path every time. Anyway, welcome to Scarlet Town. I'm the mayor of this town." The mii greeted.

"Why did you invite us here?" Maggie asked.

"We've heard that you wanted to investigate the origin of this grey substance that had been coming from the volcano. Is that right?"

"Actually, I wanted to…" Maggie began.

Mario tapped the origami with his finger. Maggie briefly looked at him then back at the mayor.

"Why yes! We're here to check on that." Maggie declared.

"Are you sure? You were about to say something else." The mayor doubted.

"I'm also looking for the Red Origami Star. Do you know where I can find it?"

"So you want to meet Lord Igami? Why so?"

"Bowser took over the origami power and we want to stop him."

"But who is this Bowser you mentioned?"

"He's very evil and I fear he's gonna use the origami power to reshape the world at his image."

"But if that's the case, why does everything seem unchanged beside the presence of the substance?"

"I think he's playing the waiting game. He must be doing a lot of planning to make sure no one will foil his plans."

"I guess so. In that case, the star you're looking for is inside the volcano but I doubt you'll find an easy way to it with all the substance coming out of it. Also, be careful of its guardian. He's invincible."

"Invincible?"

"There is a way to beat him but it requires you to find two powerful artifacts to drain his powers."

"Alright, that's all I wanted to ask."

"In that case, good luck. You're going to need it."

The group left the town hall. The miis were returning in their houses but the half of town adjacent to the volcano was still left vacant. The group headed toward the volcano.


	4. Chapter Red 2

**Chapter Red 2: Red Mountain**

They arrived at the foot of Red Mountain in no time since it was right next to Scarlet Town. It may have been foolish to establish a town here but the miis knew how to redirect lava to prevent it to destroy the city.

"Tell me, Maggie. What's that about a star and a guardian you said earlier?" Birdo asked.

"The Red Origami Star is one of the Nine Origami Stars in the Rainbow Continent. Those are artifacts containing immense power to shape the world. Each star is guarded by a powerful guardian. We need those to get to the Silver Palace." Maggie answered.

"The Silver Palace? So you're going to meet Lord Igami."

"Meet is an understatement. The Mario brothers and I will rescue him from Bowser."

"Bowser? I thought he stopped all that stuff a few months ago."

"Seems like he was deceiving everyone."

"Are you sure about that?"

Maggie pulled out the letter Bowser wrote to Mario and gave it to Birdo who read it.

"Well, that sure sounds like something Bowser would say. What did he do this time?" Birdo concluded.

"He kidnapped Peach once again and took over the Silver Palace." Maggie replied.

"In that case, we'll have to hurry."

"Agreed."

The group began climbing the volcano. Normally, after lava poured down the facades, it would be impossible to climb due to the instant heat the lava would have left behind but, since the gray substance did not have a temperature, the group managed to climb it. A few salamander origamis and dragon ones lived on the volcano, as feral as the other ones the group fought earlier. What made the climb perilous however was the risk of falling down then rolling down the slope. They took a rope and attached it around each other so that, if someone fell down and was about to roll down the volcano, the others could pull that person to stop it from rolling. Maggie did not need to have the rope tied around herself since she could fly. The higher they got, the steeper the volcano's façade became. They had to grip after the façade since it became impossible to walk up. They eventually reached the top of the volcano and stood on the corona around the giant hole in the middle. It did not generate light like lava would do. The group took one look inside the hole and saw more of the gray substance that invaded Scarlat Town. They even saw some old ruins on the façade inside the hole. Something slowly emerged from the substance so the group backed away. Then, a giant red dragon emerged from the volcano and roared. The roar echoed miles away. The dragon was not an origami though but, because it was resting in the pool of substance, the group was cautious and prepared their cards. The dragon looked at the group. The dragon also had a cream-colored body and some yellow hairs on its head.

"WHO DARES DISTURB MY SLUMBER!?" The dragon roared.

"Hum, excuse but who are you?" Maggie innocently asked.

"WHO AM I!? EVERYONE IN SCARLET TOWN KNOW WHO I AM!"

"Well, I'm not from Scarlet Town."

"Oh, in that case, I am Hooktail, the Volcano Dragon. WHAT BRINGS YOU HERE!?"

"Are you the guardian that keeps an eye on the Red Origami Star?"

"I DO NOT KNOW WHAT YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT BUT YOU SOUND LIKE YOU WANT TO STEAL MY TREASURES! PREPARE FOR BATTLE!"

Maggie panicked a little bit. Mario pulled out a card depicting an ice flower. His overall became red while his other clothes became sky blue. He threw a few ice balls at Hooktail who became irritated.

"ACK! DON'T SPRAY ME WITH COLD STUFF! THAT HURTS!" The dragon screamed.

Birdo pulled out a card depicting a tennis racket and swung a tennis ball into the dragon with a power shot. The dragon did not even flinch.

"DO YOU THINK THIS TEENY WEENY BALL WILL HURT ME!?" The dragon loudly laughed.

It was the dragon's turn. It breathed fire but it did take a form that would allow Birdo to stockpile the fire to send it back. Since neither Mario nor Birdo had any Defense Card, Mario held on his cap to protect himself as best as he could while Birdo placed her arms in front of her face. They both received damage but it was less than if they would not have blocked the fire breath.

"Even if you can't use any Defense Card, it's always good to try to block attacks with your hands. Not one do you only take half damage but you also won't get the status effect the attack would usually inflict." Maggie said.

The dragon emerged out of the grey substance even more. It stood on the opposite side of the corona with its tail still dripping in the substance. It was our heroes' turn again. Mario and Birdo looked at their cards.

"It's time to teach you about Tag Attacks. To perform one, you'll need specific cards to be activated. By example, you can do a Tag Attack with the tennis racket and the ice flower. There exists many other combinations to perform Tag Attacks and it's up to your imagination to discover them all." Maggie explained.

Mario and Birdo looked and nodded at each other. Birdo readied her tennis racket. Mario threw the ice balls at Birdo who swung them at Hooktail. The ice damage from the ice flower combined with the power shots from the tennis racket caused devastating damage on Hooktail. Every shot were aimed at his face and unbalanced him more and more on the corona. The last shot pushed him back and Hooktail fell of the corona. His tail fully emerged from the gray substance revealing the tip of his tail had been replaced with a set of hooks. The hooks grappled after the corona leaving Hooktail hanging along the slope of Red Mountain. He was knocked out for sure. Mario and friends looked down into the hole once again to see the ruins. It was a long way down there.

"How are we going to reach the ruins?" Birdo asked.

"I have a plan. Stand back." Maggie said.

Everyone backed away from Maggie who used her shapeshifting powers once again but to turn into giant butterfly this time. Everyone hopped on Maggie who then slowly glided down the hole until she reached the ruins. Once there, everyone left Maggie's back and she reverted to normal.

"Can you use your powers at will?" Birdo asked.

"Unfortunately, I can't. My powers demand huge amounts of energy so I can only use them during small periods of time." Maggie replied.

The group looked at the ruins. They were of a darker red compared to anything else in the Red Region. The group then entered the ruins. Inside, they stumbled across unusual machinery. Utility, military, there were all kinds of machines in those ruins. Obviously, some of those saw the group as intruders and tried to neutralize them but in vain as Mario and friends managed to break them.

"Those ruins hold many secrets. I wonder what we'll discover besides the Red Origami Star." Maggie whispered.

Mario stood still and looked at Maggie.

"What's that, Mario?" Maggie asked.

Mario made some gestures with his hands.

"Your kingdom was supposed to discover a new technology from the origamis? And you think it might be related to those ruins? I doubt it. Those ruins seem to hold secrets for machinery. Origamis don't use machines." The origami answered.

Everyone looked at Maggie after she said this. Maggie suspected they were growing suspiscious of her.

"Well, I'm an origami and I've never used one of those machines." She brought up.

The group carried on. Those little talks would bring them nowhere and there was no real reason to doubt her aside of the coincidental Princess Ori namedrop. They stumbled across a giant double door with two sockets in it. The left one was shaped like a hammer while the right one had the shape of a big dart.

"Those must be where the two artifacts we need to beat the guardian fit. I hope we can keep them once we open the door." Maggie pointed out.

They searched the rooms they could go in eventually found the artifacts they were looking for. The hammer was coated in gold and quite heavy. The big dart seemed to be made of crystals. They returned to the giant double door and put the artifacts in place. The door slowly opened and the ruins slightly shook. It was not enough to cause anyone to fall on the ground. Once the door completely opened, our heroes tried to remove the artifacts from the doors. They got out quite easily but the most surprising was that the doors remained open even without their artifacts. Due to how heavy the artifacts were, Maggie used her powers to turn them into cards. Mario kept the golden hammer card in his deck while Birdo put the crystalline dart into hers. The group slowly entered the new room. They were shocked to see another red origami with an unusual shape. It looked like a reptilian humanoid with a long pointy tail that stood on two legs.

"Welcome, visitors." The origami said with a god-like voice.

"Who are you?" Maggie asked.

"I am the Red Guardian. I am the one who guards the Red Origami Star from those who dare defile Lord Igami." The origami spoke.

"Cool, so can we have the star please?"

"I am sorry. I am afraid I cannot let you do that."

"But we need it to save Lord Igami. Bowser is holding him hostage and might use his powers to take over the world."

The Red Guardian chuckled. Maggie looked away for a second. It was then that she noticed the glass pipes with the gray substance flowing through them. She became disturbed. She slowly looked back at the Red Guardian.

"That substance, you got infected!" Maggie declared.

"Please, I prefer the term opened my eyes. I see the truth now. Do not fear the Grey. Join it. Embrace it. Spread its message across the world… Like now." The guardian said.

It snapped its clawed fingers. The group heard a metallic hatch opened. The sound came from above. They all looked up and saw a mass of Grey falling down to them. Maggie immediately moved out of the way but the others did not have time to react. They all got sullied by the Grey. Maggie looked at the group, afraid.

"This is not happening. This can't be happening." She quietly cried.

"Now, witness the truth!" The guardian said.

The group stood back up but nothing seemed to have changed in them.

"Eww, that stuff is gross! I can understand people taking a mud bath but that stuff is just gross!" Birdo complained.

The group did not seem to be affected by the Grey. Maggie slowly approached them. They seemed like before. The guardian was not amused however.

"Well, in that case, I'll have to dispose of you the old-fashioned way." The guardian declared.

A battle started. Mario was the first to act and used a Power Jump card and stomped once on the Red Guardian. It did nothing and the guardian laughed.

"Do you really think you can beat me? I am beyond your comprehension!" The guardian boasted.

Birdo tried to attack the guardian with an Egg Bomb card but the result was the same. The guardian used his powers to summon pillars of fire that shot toward the group. Birdo absorbed one of them with her mouth and Mario used a Frog Suit card to jump over the other one. Maggie looked around and found a strange-looking object above the guardian. It resembled a crystalline heart inside a spherical barrier. The heart was beating like an actual one.

"Guys, try to attack the heart above him!" Maggie said.

The group looked above the guardian and saw the heart. Mario looked in his card and found the Golden Hammer in his hands. He used the card and even had a Hammer Throw card which he used afterward. He held the hammer with both hand and swung it around until he judged he had enough momentum to throw it away. He hurled the hammer toward the heart. The barrier shattered as the hammer hit it on maximum velocity. Birdo looked in her hand and found the Crystal Dart card. She used it and the dart appeared in her hands and she loaded it in her mouth. She aimed at the heart and, with the pressure from the fire pillar she absorbed, fired the dart at it. As soon as the dart hit the heart, the latter blew in pieces. The shards from the hearts fell all around the guardian. With nothing to draw power from, the guardian was weakening by the second. He could no longer stand up and fell on his knees.

"My powers… I cannot…" He stuttered.

Fissures appeared all over his body. Light came out of the fissures. More and more fissures appeared until the guardian exploded. The group had to cover their eyes due to the intense light from the explosion. When they opened their eyes again, the guardian was gone. Instead, a small chameleon origami, around the same size as Maggie, lied down on the ground unconscious. The Grey from the pipes slowly vanished and lava now flowed through them. The group gathered around the new origami that slowly woke up.

"Where am I? What happened?" The origami slowly asked.

It then noticed Maggie's presence and gasped. It seemed happy to see Maggie

"Princess Ori!? Is that really you!?" The origami asked.

"No, my name is Maggie." The swan obviously answered.

The red origami was immediately saddened when it realized it mistook her for someone else.

"Oh, I am terribly sorry, Maggie. It's been years I did not see her again and I became so desperate." The origami continued.

"I understand." Maggie said back.

"Anyway, what brings you here?"

"We were investigating on some grey substance coming out of the volcano." Birdo said.

"A grey substance? Yes, I remember. I was here, guarding the star. But then, I saw the lava in my pipes turning grey and my ruins got flooded by this grey substance. That's the last thing I remember. Say, what happened to you? You seem injured." The origami pointed out.

"You attacked us." Maggie simply answered.

"I did!? Oh no! The substance must have taken over my body! I hope I didn't harm anyone else too!"

"I don't think you did besides spreading the grey substance into Scarlet Town many times." Birdo brought up.

"I'm terribly sorry for all the harm I caused." The red origami said.

"It's alright. At least, we managed to bring you back into your senses." Maggie replied.

"Yeah. Anyway, since the grey substance is gone, is there anything else you need?"

"I need your Origami Star if you don't mind."

"My star? So you want to meet Lord Igami?"

"Yes and no. In fact, someone took over the Silver Palace and I fear this person will use Igami's powers to reshape the worlds."

"I see. Since you saved me from that substance, I'll allow you to take my star. By the way, my name is Ruby."

Ruby left the room and came back with a star bigger than even Birdo who was the tallest among the group. Maggie took the star and it shrank into a badge.

"With this, you have one of the two stars to take the Orange and the Purple Origami Stars. You'll have to find the one to get those. Plus, that's one of the nine stars needed to get to the Silver Palace. I'll now warp you out of the volcano." Ruby said.

He then performed a ritual that summoned a huge corona of red energy that surrounded everyone. They were warped outside the ruins on the volcano's corona. Hooktail was still hanging upside down along the slope of the volcano.

"I suspected you had to rough Hooktail up a little bit to get to my ruins." Ruby said.

"Wait. You know him?" Maggie asked.

"Of course. He's like my guard dog. He bars the route to trespassers for me so I won't have to intervene too much."

The group bid farewell to Ruby who returned inside the volcano. The group returned to Scarlet town to announce the grey substance was removed from the volcano. With that, the mayor of the town rewarded our heroes with Consumable Cards and other new cards to help them in their journey. They went back in Hot Pepper Ashlands and returned to the go-kart. However, since there was one more person in their group, the go-kart was no longer sufficient for them. The mii at the gate proposed to swap their go-kart for a minivan which the group accepted. With the minivan, they returned to miitropolis to rest and plan their next day. Maggie put the continent map on the table and the others looked at it. She put a red X on Red Mountain to remind everyone that they already have the Red Origami Star.

"Alright! We got our first star! Where should we go next?" Maggie asked.

"What about the Yellow Region. I'd like to see an old friend here." Birdo proposed.

"That settles it. The yellow region is a vast desert with many oases all over the region. I suspect the Yellow Origami Star might be inside the Golden Pyramid which is not too far from Flaxen City. We'll sleep for the night first then we'll head out." Maggie concluded.

Everyone went to their room for the night but Maggie did not sleep yet. She went to check on Birdo who was writing something on a sheet of paper.

"Hey… What are you doing?" Maggie asked.

"Oh? I'm writing a new song for the next time I'll perform." Birdo answered.

"You love to sing?"

"I do."

"When did you start singing?"

"It was a few years ago and…"

Birdo took a small break. She seemed sad.

"What's wrong, Birdo?" Maggie asked.

"Well, the friend I want to see didn't approve me singing. So, I left him and went my way."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear this."

"Don't worry, everything was falling apart anyway. He was a king and I was some kind of lover for him but he got dethroned. Plus, we didn't get along that well. Though, I'd like to apologise to him for having left him. Somehow, I feel guilty."

"You see him as a friend. I'd also feel guilty if I left one of mine."

"Thank you, Maggie. Anyway, it's getting late tonight. I'll go to bed. Goodnight."

"Yeah, goodnight Birdo."

Maggie left the room and closed the door behind. She did not have a room on her own but she stayed in the living room. She looked through the window and saw the lights on the other buildings turning off one by one. Everyone in Miitropolis was sleeping. She sighed and went to sleep.

"Gami… where are you?" She whispered in her slumber.


	5. Chapter Yellow 1

**YELLOW CHAPTERS: LONG-TIME FRIENDS**

 **Chapter Yellow 1: Mustard Desert**

The group woke up when someone knocked on their door. Maggie was the first to wake up and went to answer the door. A mii suited like a mailman was standing in the corridor in front of her with a letter in his hand.

"Good morning! I have a letter for a certain Maggie." The mailman greeted.

"Yes, that's me." Maggie replied.

"Here you go."

The mailman gave the letter to Maggie and left into the corridor. The little swan carefully opened the letter and took out its content. It was a sheet of paper with the following written on it:

" _To the one named Maggie,_

 _I am intrigued that you are currently on your way to collect the Origami Stars from each region. I would like to meet you and your friends in person. However, since I am very busy these days, I am afraid this will have to wait in a few days. Once you have at least three Origami Stars, meet me in Room 810."_

The letter did not have any signature or name on it so Maggie could not tell who wrote this to her. She decided to check on that room 810 on her own. The others still preparing for their next journey, this gave enough time to the little swan to take a look at the room. Maybe she would get to meet that anonymous writer. She got to the door of room 810. She tried to look through the hole the door had but could barely see anything.

"Excuse me?" A voice asked.

Maggie got startled and look behind her. It was just a mii in a janitor suit. She sighed out of relief.

"You're here to see the resident of room 810?" The janitor asked.

"Yes. Have you seen him?" Maggie asked back.

"Unfortunately no. If anyone lives in this room, he rarely stays here."

"But he must have a name or anything, right?"

"That's not to me to tell you that. The receptionist on ground level might tell you more about that."

"Thanks and bye."

Maggie went downstairs to the reception. There were not as many tourists as the other day when she confronted that Bowser Jr. It was quite calm today. She went to see the receptionist.

"Good morning, Miss Maggie! What can I do for you today?" The receptionist asked.

"Hello! Do you appear to know who rented room 810?" Maggie asked back.

"I'm afraid I cannot tell you this information."

"But the person who lives there sent me an anonymous letter."

"Again, I cannot tell you such thing. The owner asked us to not tell his name to anyone."

"I see. Thanks anyway."

She turned back and saw all her friends ready for their next journey. The group went in the minivan and drove to the Yellow Region. It must have taken around an hour to get to the border between Miitropolis and the Yellow Region. Though, with more people in the minivan, time passed quickly as they could tell stories to each other or sing, a thing Birdo loved to do. Once they arrived at the border, all but Birdo was surprised to see a shyguy at the gate. Since there was the same rule that forbade motorized vehicles in this region like the Red Region, the group parked their minivan and went to see the shyguy. Oddly enough, many tankers were parked near the gate.

"What's with all the trucks here?" Birdo asked.

"Haven't you heard? All the oases' water got turned into some grey gooey substance and it's unsafe to drink this. So, we have tankers occasionally travelling to Flaxen City to supply it with fresh water and some parked here to make sure anyone who would like to get to the city will make it. Do you have bottles on you?" The shyguy explained.

"Umm, no."

"I can sell you bottles if you want to."

Everyone in the group bought one bottle each. They were five coins each. Though it seemed outrageous to spend so many coins on an empty bottle, everyone could afford at least a hundred of them on a daily basis. The group then filled their bottle with water which was at least free. Now, they were all set to explore the Yellow Region.

"Stay on the road. You never know what you'll encounter out there." The shyguy advised.

The group began their walk to Flaxen City. The desert was steaming hot, so hot that everything seemed curvy and dancing. The fully exposed sun did not help but the group at least thought to put some sun screen on themselves. They looked around as they walked down the road. High above them, some vultures were flying in circles waiting for them to not pay attention to their surroundings. The group spotted a few palm trees in the distance and wanted to see them closer. Usually, oases had a few palm trees around them. The group wanted to see about those oases filled with grey substance. They walked off the road. The sand was much hotter than the road. They walked to the palm trees. An hour later, they reached them and saw an oasis between the palm trees. The shyguy at the gate was indeed telling the truth. The group saw the oasis filled with grey substance, the same one that used to be in the volcano. The oasis also had a shelter built near it.

"It seems like this grey substance problem is bigger than we thought. I wonder from this one comes from." Maggie commented.

The group wanted to head back to the road but a group of yellow vulture origamis ambushed them. The group engaged the vultures in a fight. Mario began his turn with a Multibounce to stomp on each vulture once. Birdo pulled out a Fireball card and fired at the vulture in the middle. Her fireball blew up on this vulture and the explosion even damaged the others around that one. This fight was not too hard for the group as they only took a turn to defeat the foes. Maggie, as usual, collected the star points left behind. Though, this fight gave enough time for a sandstorm to brew.

"Look out! Sandstorm!" Maggie screamed.

The group looked around and noticed the shelter. They all entered it and closed the door. There was not much inside the shelter aside of a few shovels certainly to shovel the sand away if the shelter got immerged by the sandstorm. The group waited for a while and took a sip from their bottles of water. Eventually, they heard the storm dying down. They opened the door but, since the shelter got immerged by the sand, a lot of sand went inside the shelter. Maggie, who was the one to have opened the door, got immerged by the sand. The others each took a shovel and began digging inside the sand to rescue their origami friend. They pulled her out once they could see her after shoveling the sand away. She had sand in her eyes and coughed. Mario gave some water to her to help her clean her eyes and invisible mouth.

"Thanks Mario! It got so dark under all that sand and I was scared. I hope it'll be the last time I get sprayed with anything in the face." Maggie said.

She laughed a little bit to laugh at her own bad luck. The others laughed with her. They dug through the sand and managed to get out the shelter. However, because of the sandstorm, their footprints got covered and the group no longer knew from where they came. Maggie panicked a little bit.

"Oh no! Which way do we go?" She asked to her friends.

"Well, the sun comes out from the east so…" Birdo began.

In the meantime, Luigi searched in his pocket and pulled out a compass. He always kept one to never lose the north. With his sense of direction, he pointed toward a direction. Maggie and Birdo looked at him, unsure. Luigi first began walking to that direction and Mario followed him behind. Birdo and Maggie decided to follow them since Mario trusted his little brother. Another hour passed and they were back on the road.

"Wow! You are great at finding back your way, Luigi! Where did you learn all of that?" Maggie complimented.

Luigi made some gestures with his hands.

"You learned that from geography classes when you were younger? It's hard to believe but maybe your classes were much better and more entertaining than the ones I got if you got to learn such useful tricks." Maggie giggled.

At the same time, luck smiled on them as a tanker was slowly driving by. The tanker stopped near the group. A shyguy was driving it.

"What are you doing out there, guys? It's dangerous to stay out in the open like that for too long with the sun, the wildlife and the sandstorms." The shyguy pointed out.

"We went to check out an oasis and came back. It took us a few hours and we just arrived back on the road." Maggie explained.

"Well, since I found you guys, would you mind to hop aboard? I don't have much space in the cabin but some of you can sit on the tank since I drive slowly."

"Cool! So who…"

"I'll take it!" Birdo said.

Birdo climbed aboard the truck's cabin and sat next to the shyguy. Mario and Luigi climbed on the tank and sat down. Even if Maggie could fit in the cabin, she chose to join the plumbers on the tank. The ride was peaceful with a few bumps that made the people on the tank jump occasionally.

"We're making progress, slowly but surely. I hope we won't have to fight another guardian to get the Yellow Origami Star." Maggie said.

An hour passed and they reached Flaxen City. It was a very big city but not as big as Miitropolis. All the buildings here were made of sturdy-looking sand blocks. The truck stopped in the middle of the city and everyone left it. The group gathered together.

"So, Birdo, where do you think your friend will be?" Maggie asked.

"He's pretty easy to find. He's the mayor after all. We just need to reach the town hall." Birdo answered.

"Cool! Let's go then."

A large crowd of shyguys gathered around the tanker. The group had to find their way out of the crowd, with no battle obviously. The shyguys did not notice the group was trying to leave so none of them moved aside to make the group's job easier. Once out of the crowd, the group followed Birdo to the town hall. Since a tanker was in the city, no shyguy stood guard. The group entered the town hall and were welcomed by a sniffit. They could tell it was once since it wore a gas mask as opposed to the typical white mask a shyguy would usually wear.

"Welcome back, Birdo! What's your business here?" The sniffit greeted.

"I'd like to meet the mayor." Birdo said.

"You know he won't be glad to see you again since you quit. I hope he won't be too harsh on you."

"I know."

"He's upstairs as usual."

"Thanks."

The group took the first set of stairs and went into a corridor. They heard voices as they walked to the mayor's office.

"I can't believe I have to eat these."

"You have to, sire. The doctor said you lacked important vitamins."

"They taste so horrible. Can I eat them with something at least?"

"I don't doubt it. Would you like ketchup or mayonnaise?"

The group finally reached the office. Once inside, they saw a giant frog vested like a king sat at the desk poking vegetables placed on a dish with his fork. He seemed disgusted by the food presented in front of him. The footsteps attracted his attention and he looked at the group. He did not care for anyone in the group but Birdo.

"Ah! Birdo! You came back! But I'm sure it's not to join me back as my secretary, is it?" The frog sighed.

"Hi, Wart! How have you been doing since I left?" Birdo worryingly asked.

"Such tone, do you care for me? And oh! I've been doing well, yes, in fact, very well since you left me with all the work forcing me to hire another secretary despite no one being able to do the job like you did!" Wart whispered with his voice becoming louder and louder.

"Wart I…"

"Oh no, don't give a hoot about me. How do you do?" Wart abruptly cut.

"I'd like you to tell me about you first."

"Have I not said enough? Do you want me to share all my pains with you!? Do I have to spell it out to you that everything is going wrong around here!? All my oases are infected with this disgusting grey stuff!" Wart asked out loud.

"Never mind. I've been doing very well lately. I even have an agent, who isn't with me right now, which takes me to places and finds me new contracts."

"Come on! Put some adjectives with your words! I know what you're doing is exciting!"

Wart became more and more exasperate. The group slowly backed away but Birdo stood her ground. She stepped forward and began to sing:

" **When did the stars fall so madly in love?**

 **Those plumb pursued lips.**

 **The overdone purple eye shadow.**

 **You only call me by moonlight…"**

Wart suddenly stopped in his rant. He did not move at all. He kept listening to Birdo who was still singing:

" **Two hearts in doki doki panic.**

 **My heart Flutter Jumps.**

 **Kiss me, my darling.**

 **Oops! There's egg on your face…"**

Wart calmed down as Birdo sang. He was now smiling.

"I remember why I hired you in the first place." He joyfully said.

Then, he began bawling. He tried to go around his desk to hug Birdo but he bumped into it while doing so and fell on the floor right in front of Birdo. Birdo kneeled down.

"I'm sorry, Wart." Birdo simply said.

"Don't pity me! I don't deserve you!" Wart sobbed.

"Please, you're better than this. Look at you! You're mayor of one of the biggest settlements in the Rainbow Continent."

"This means nothing to me when my best friend is out there making her dream a reality. I'm happy that you are following your dreams."

"Actually, I wanted to return working here."

Wart stopped crying and looked at Birdo. He still had tears coming down his eyes but he was smiling again.

"You don't do this to make me happy, do you?" Wart asked.

"No. The real reason is that I have enough of being a celebrity." Birdo confessed.

"But why? Wasn't it your dream to be a famous singer?"

"Yes but my agent doesn't really care about that when coins are the only things that matter to him."

"But if you need an agent, I can always be one for you."

Birdo giggled. She liked the idea to have an old friend as her agent.

"That's a funny idea. I'll take it." Birdo declared.

She then helped Wart get back on his feet. The others just watched as all of that was happening without saying a word.

"So, are you free now?" Wart asked.

"I'm sorry, sweetie. I'm travelling with the Mario brothers. Oh, speaking of them, I have someone to present you." Birdo brought up.

Maggie advanced toward them.

"Ah! Greetings! Forgive me for this little scene. I am Wart, the mayor of Flaxen City." The frog welcomed.

"Hi, I'm Maggie. I'm currently gathering the Origami Stars to meet Lord Igami." The swan said.

"Ah! So you want to meet the creator in person! The Yellow Origami Star is still inside the Golden Pyramid. By the way, do you think you can investigate on my oases please?"

"We saw one of them and I think I know the source of this grey substance. I just need to get in the Golden Pyramid."

"Yes! I have the key right here."

Wart returned behind his desk and pulled on a drawer. He pulled out an ancient-looking key and gave it to Maggie.

"Why are there vegetables on your desk, sweetie? I thought you hated those." Birdo asked.

"Ah yes! I still do but I got a little health issue lately and my doctor told me to eat some of those." Wart explained.

A sniffit entered the room with a plate that have two bottles on it. One was ketchup while the other was mayonnaise.

"I'm terribly sorry but I need to eat right now. Come back when you'll have found out something about my oases." Wart bid.

The group left the office but did not go back outside yet.

"Wow. That Wart guy sure is quite emotional. I kinda understand why you left him." Maggie pointed out.

"Don't worry, sweetie. He's always been like that but he rarely gets that hysterical." Birdo told her.

"Right. Now that we have the key to the Golden Pyramid, we can finally get the Yellow Origami Star. Let's go!"

The group went back to the entrance and left the office.


	6. Chapter Yellow 2

**Chapter Yellow 2: The Golden Pyramid**

"Mistress Rosetool, look out!" A voice shouted.

It all happened so fast. Mario was the first one to leave the town hall. As he made his way down the stairs, someone bumped into him. Both he and the person fell on the ground. The rest of the group went to see if he was alright. They also checked on the other person and helped both Mario and the person get back on their feet. The other person was a woman around the same height as Peach but had orange hairs. She was wearing a standard athletic wear with the shirt being yellow and the shorts orange.

"Oooh! I'm terribly sorry, mister…" The woman began.

When the woman finally saw into who she bumped, she gasped and became happy.

"Mario! Hi! I wasn't expecting you here!" The woman said.

Around the same time, a small flower ran to the group. She seemed exhausted as she was panting.

"Excuse me but who are you to know Mario?" Maggie asked to the woman.

"I'm Daisy! I'm surprised you don't know me! I'm the princess of Sarasaland. What about you? Who are you?" The woman greeted.

"Me? I'm Maggie." The swan said.

"So, what brings you here?"

"We were going to see the Golden Pyramid."

Daisy gasped another time. She looked at the flower that was still catching its breath.

"Can I go to the pyramid please, Misses Roseworth!?" Daisy asked.

"Mistress Roseworth, it's too dangerous to go there. Who knows what we'll find in there?" Misses Roseworth pointed out.

"But I'll go there with Mario and friends."

"I guess it'll be fine but I'll just stay in town."

The flower went to see Mario.

"Please, Master Mario, take good care of her. She tends to act reckless." The flower asked.

Mario nodded. The group headed out with their new friend. The flower remained behind and waved at them. As they walked through the streets, Daisy held Luigi's hand.

"So, Daisy, we might face some dangers in the pyramid. Can you defend yourself?" Maggie asked.

"If I can? Oh wait. You don't know much about me or how I once punched Bowser to the moon." Daisy replied.

"You WHAT!?"

Maggie looked at the others. They all nodded at her. She slowly looked back at Daisy.

"How is that possible? How can you do something like that to Bowser? I don't imagine him to weight like a feather." Maggie asked.

"A good punch placed at the right place can send anyone to a desired place." Daisy chanted.

"That's great and all. At least, we have someone that can definitively beat Bowser."

"What do you mean defeat Bowser?"

Maggie pulled out the letter and showed it to Daisy who read it. The woman became furious and almost tore the letter apart.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS! HE'S AT IT AGAIN!? AND HE STOLE PEACH AGAIN!? THAT'S IT! WHEN I'LL SEE HIM BACK AGAIN I'LL PUNCH HIM TO THE SUN THIS TIME! I SHOULD'VE BEEN AT THE VENT TO PROTECT HER!" Daisy shouted.

She suddenly calmed down.

"Wait! Why are we going to the pyramid? Is Bowser in there?" She asked to the others.

"We need something from the pyramid to get to Bowser. He's currently at the Silver Palace but we can't there yet because we need certain artifacts and one of those might be in the pyramid." Maggie explained.

Daisy gave the letter back to the swan.

"Anyway, what I meant by defending yourself is if you had cards." Maggie brought up.

"Oh? Yeah, I have cards." Daisy answered as she searched her pockets and pulled out a deck of cards.

Maggie examined the cards. She was impressed to see all the different types of card in here. There was of everything in Daisy's deck just like in Mario's. The group left town and headed to the Golden Pyramid. It was not a long trip even if the pyramid was farther away from Flaxen City than the volcano was from Scarlet Town. It did take them half an hour to reach the pyramid. The first thing they noticed on it was the bizarre and obvious separation between its top and the rest of the pyramid.

"I always wonder why the top was made separately from the pyramid." Birdo brought up.

"I've heard from historians that the top was once made of gold but Flaxen City had to remove it and replace it by a top made of the same material as the rest of the pyramid to avoid thieves to dig through the top and steal the gold. However, the real top can be found in a museum heavily guarded by the best troops of the city if I remember correctly."

"Alright! So, where do we enter inside the pyramid?" Daisy interrupted.

The group began walking around the pyramid. Since it was gigantic, it took them many minutes to circle around it but they eventually found what seemed to be an entrance. On one side, at the foot of the pyramid, they found a big rectangle-shaped carving on the wall.

"Hmm, how do we open that now?" Maggie wondered.

Daisy did not even say anything and went to the carving. She punched the wall at the rectangular shape in it broke down in piece.

"Ta-da!" She exclaimed.

"Well, that'll work I guess." Birdo said.

The group entered the pyramid. It was very dark inside. They could not see anything. Luigi took the precaution to bring a flashlight and led the group into the dark corridors. The walls had many drawings and hieroglyphs of an ancient civilization. Daisy had her camera with her and took photos of the walls. They then entered a big room with a few torches lighting it. In the middle, a koopa suited like a pharaoh was sitting on a throne. He was not pleased to see people in here.

"What are you doing in my pyramid!?" He shouted with his ancient yet powerful voice.

"Um, hi! I'm Maggie and we're looking for the Yellow Origami Star. Have you seen it?" Maggie answered.

"Do not bother searching for such thing! I have been living in this pyramid for centuries and I have not seen anything that resembles a star in here!"

"Surely, it must be around here. There must be a corner inside the pyramid you've forgotten. Would you mind helping us please?"

The pharaoh sighed in exasperation. He stood up his throne and left the room. Once out, the group could hear the footsteps echo in the throne room. The pharaoh then returned with a chain chomp he was holding on a chain leash.

"Fine! But here's my condition: once we find this star, we bargain as, technically, this star is mine since it is in my home." The pharaoh concluded.

"Sure! I'll think of something to give you in exchange of it. Also, you said you've been living in here for centuries? How is that possible?" Maggie asked.

"I am a ghost!"

The people in the group looked at each other then back at the pharaoh.

"Oh! You think because I am a ghost I should act scarier! Well I don't, too bad for you!" The pharaoh ranted.

The group brushed the thought away and joined the pharaoh into searching the Yellow Origami Star. The pharaoh took a lit torch with him.

"Beware the dead! They will rise up from their slumber and curse you!" The pharaoh said.

"What do you mean?" Birdo asked, a little scared.

Just as they passed by a few sarcophaguses, they violently opened and dry bones wrapped in bandages slowly rose up from them. The group stopped and had to fight them. Mario used a hammer card then hit one of the dry bones with it. Birdo took a Fireball Card and fired one at another dry bone. Daisy did not have time to play a card as the fight was already over. It seemed that mummified dry bones were weak to hammer and fire.

"Oooh! I wanted to help!" Daisy lamented.

"Don't worry. There will be plenty of times where you'll help us." Maggie reassured.

Daisy just smiled at the swan. The group went back to their search of the star inside the pyramid. They ended up in a room that was a dead end.

"This is my chamber! Be respectful when you search it!" The pharaoh warned.

The group began searching inside the chamber. After minutes, everyone concluded there was nothing but Birdo kept searching.

"See? I told you so! Your star is not…" The pharaoh began.

"Hey! What's that brick sticking out the wall?" Birdo brought up.

Everyone looked at her. She was touching a brick that was slightly sticking out the wall. The pharaoh approached that part of the wall. He was to take out some glasses from his robe and wear it on his face to examine the brick since he was far-sighted.

"This? I thought it was an architecture issue but did not bother to try pushing it since it was not that visible to me." The pharaoh claimed.

"Should we try pushing it?" Maggie proposed.

The pharaoh shrugged it off as if it did not bother him. Birdo pushed the brick in the wall. It worked, not only that but the wall began moving like a door. It revealed a new room with the Yellow Origami Star resting inside on a podium.

"Unbelievable! Having known that, it would have saved me so much time today!" The pharaoh complained.

"What do you mean? I doubt you do many things every day." Maggie said.

"Oh, you know, sleeping as a ghost should be!"

The pharaoh then entered first and looked at the group. He was blocking the way to the star. He was grinning at the group.

"So, now's time to bargain." The pharaoh said.

"I could sing you a song." Birdo proposed.

"No thanks. Silence is my music."

"We could always beat him up!" Daisy yelled.

"Absolutely not!" The pharaoh loudly objected.

Maggie thought deeply while all the others were arguing with the pharaoh. She then went forward after having an idea.

"You want nothing." She said.

All the others looked at her dumbfounded. Who would want nothing in exchange of something? There was a moment of silence. No one moved or spoke. Then, the pharaoh seemed irritated.

"Dang it! That's what I wanted: nothing." He confessed.

With that, the pharaoh moved aside to let Maggie take the Yellow Origami Star. Like the red one, the star shrank to the size of a badge and Maggie put it in a pocket. She returned to Mario and friends.

"Well, that was easy." She said.

She looked back at the pharaoh.

"Well, since you have what you were looking for, would you mind leaving please?" The pharaoh asked.

"Yes but, before we leave, have you heard of a guardian who was protecting this star?" Maggie asked back.

"A what?"

There was no time to think about it though as the room began violently shaking. Everyone fell on the ground.

"Earthquake!?" Maggie screamed.

"We need to get to the top!" The pharaoh said.

"But there's no exit to the top! It's blocked!"

"Actually, the top isn't attached to the base so it'll move due to the earthquake."

The pharaoh went ahead first. The others stood back up and followed him. They saw light in the distance that grew as they approached it. They found an exit that lead to the top. Everyone left the pyramid and found that the top was gone but the pharaoh stayed behind. Maggie noticed that and looked back at the exit.

"Mister Pharaoh, it's too dangerous to stay!" Maggie reminded.

"Don't worry about me! I'll be fine! Just…" The pharaoh began.

The pyramid began slowly flipping upside down. The group ran to the side rising up. They managed to remain on the pyramid now upside down.

"Okay, that's weird." Maggie pointed out.

The people in the group looked at each other. Maggie tried to leave the base of the pyramid but a yellow magical barrier prevented her to do so. She looked around and panicked.

"Look out!" She screamed as she took Mario by the nose with her beak and pulled him down on the floor.

The others ducked and saw a giant laser passing above their head. They all looked behind and saw the top of the pyramid standing on four long talon-like legs.

"The Yellow Guardian!" Maggie screamed.

There was no way to run away from it. They had to fight it. Mario tried to use a Power Bounce card to repeatedly stomp on the guardian but it did not finch. Birdo pulled out an Egg Bomb card and managed to inflict some damage on the guardian. It was now Daisy's turn. She looked at her cards and found one that she deemed useful for the fight. She first used a tennis racket card to wield one then used another card that boosted the party's defence. With that, the Yellow Guardian attacked with its talons. It could only attack two people at a time so it decided to attack both Mario and Birdo. Mario used a Tanuki card and deflected the talon elsewhere. Because it became unbalanced, the Yellow Guardian was unable to land the second hit on Birdo. The second turn began. This time, Mario used a Hammer Suit card and got an idea. He performed a Tag Attack with Daisy by swinging the hammer at her. Daisy then hit the hammers at the guardian. With the Yellow Guardian being weak to hammers, each one dealt huge damage. It even caused the guardian to get overturned on the back. The group first thought it would be over but they got surprised when they saw the cannon under the base of the guardian. Birdo still had her turn and used another Egg Bomb card. She aimed carefully at the cannon and managed to clog it with the egg she just fired. With this, the Yellow tried to chard up his laser another time but, when he tried to fire it, the egg stuck in the cannon blew up so did all the energy the guardian accumulated to charge the laser. The intense amount of energy caused the Yellow Guardian to explode. It created a lot of smoke. The group waited for it to disperse and, once done, they saw a little yellow pyramid origami on the ground. Maggie went to see it. The little pyramid woke up and was surprised to see the swan.

"Princess Ori!?" The pyramid stuttered.

"Actually, I'm Maggie." The swan replied.

"Oooh! It's been a long time I haven't seen her and you look exactly like her."

"I see. Tell me. What happened to you to attack us?"

"I attacked you!? Oh goodness! I'm so sorry. Anyway, I was once dusting the pyramid with the help of Tutankoopa…"

"Who's that?" Daisy asked.

"He's a ghost pharaoh that lives in the pyramid. So, once we were done, he returned to sleep and then a stranger approached me with a drink. I couldn't refuse it. I was thirsty and I drank it." The yellow origami said.

"What did that drink look like?" Maggie asked.

"It was grey and a bit gooey. It was hard to drink at first. Then, I don't know why but I blacked out. That drink must've taken over my body and forced me to attack anyone on sight."

"Just like the Red Guardian, eh? Do you remember what the stranger looked like?"

"I don't he had his entire body concealed by a cloak."

"That's all I wanted to ask."

"Alright, my turn: What are you doing here?"

"I was looking for the Yellow Origami Star to go to the Silver Palace. Bowser has taken over the origami power and I suspect he must be holding Lord Igami hostage."

"That bowser sure sound powerful if he can do that to Igami. I'll…"

"We already have the star."

"Oh… In that case, shall I bring you to Flaxen City?"

"That'll be great. Thank you."

The little pyramid used its powers to warp the group back at the city. They all looked at the pyramid that slowly flipped back to normal.

"Once you get all the stars, call me. You'll also need my help to get to the Silver Palace. For now, farewell." The yellow origami bided before disappearing.

The group returned to the town hall. They went to see Wart. He was busy right now as he was speaking to someone on the telephone. The plate he had earlier was still on the desk but was flooded with ketchup. He seemed surprised.

"You can't be serious! The oases just turned back to water!? That's the best thing that could happen right now! We won't have to bring tankers in town anymore! Oh! Excuse me I have some important visit in my office. Bye!" Wart said in the telephone.

He put it away and stood up to meet his guests.

"You're back! I don't know how you did it but all my oases are back to normal! Have you found what you were looking for?" The mayor said.

"Yes we did." Birdo replied.

"Excellent! So, what are you going to do after that?"

"I'll travel a little bit with Mario. I'll call you when I'm planning to return here."

"Take your time. Your place will be kept warm for now. Oh! Before I forget, here are some cards. I don't know what they do but…"

Wart pulled out a drawer and took some cards he gave to the group. Those were additional cards to add to their decks. With that done, the group left the town hall and Misses Roseworth joined them. They all took the first tanker that returned to the border and went back in the minivan to head back to their hotel in Miitropolis. Once back, Maggie pulled out the world map and put an X on the pyramid in the Yellow Region.

"With the Red and the Yellow Origami Star, we could go to the Orange Region and get the star here." Maggie brought up.

"How about we get the blue one before?" Daisy proposed.

"That'll be a better idea, yeah. Let's get some rest for tonight."

Everyone went to their bedroom. Maggie stayed awake and went to check on Daisy. The woman was not sleeping yet. She just stared outside the window.

"Hello." Maggie calmly said.

"Hi, Maggie." Daisy sighed.

"What's wrong?"

"When you said you were not Princess Ori to the little pyramid, I was disappointed to know that I couldn't relate to anyone in the group… Not yet…"

"What do you mean?"

"I'm a princess and, as one, everyone counts on me to help them. I can't do everything yet people don't want to listen. Sometimes, I wish I was just a normal person without the entire burden that comes with being a princess."

"What are you talking about? Isn't a princess like a person with so much power that she's free?"

"Ironically, the more powerful you are, the less freedom you get."

"I don't understand."

"I'm not surprised. You're just a commoner. I should go to sleep. Maybe I'm just tired and that makes me not in the mood to be happy. Goodnight."

Maggie left Daisy's room. She could somewhat relate to her. She knew of the illusion of freedom she was talking about and once felt it. She laid down on the couch in the living room and stared at the window.

"Gami… I hope you're still around… I'll find you no matter what…" She whispered before falling asleep.


	7. Chapter Blue 1

**BLUE CHAPTERS: DEEP DESIRE**

 **Chapter Blue 1: Azure Cove**

Someone knocked on the door. Maggie woke up wondering who it could be today. Everyone else was still sleeping. She left the couch and went to the door. She opened it and saw it was the mailman again holding another letter.

"Good morning, madam! I have a letter for a certain Maggie who resides in this room." The mailman said as he waved the letter.

"That's me. I'll take it." The swan replied.

The mailman gave the letter to Maggie and left into the corridor. The origami closed the door and went back in the living room. Before opening the letter, she looked at the clock. The mailman came earlier than the other day probably to make sure he would not miss her. She looked back at the letter and opened it. The following was written on it:

" _Dear Maggie,_

 _I am impressed you have made much progress in the few days you have been in the Rainbow Continent. With that, I am willing to tell you my name that you will find near the end of this letter. Remember. Once you have three Origami Stars in your possession, meet me with your friends in room 810 as soon as you can. I am very anxious to meet you._

 _Rio_

 _PS: The Yellow Guardian asked me to tell you that her name is Topaz."_

How did this Rio know that she forgot to ask the pyramid's name? Nonetheless, she at least knew who she was dealing with. The others wake up and gathered together at the restaurant on ground level to have breakfast. The hotel was serving all sort of food like waffles, pancakes and French toasts.

"Maggie, I think I sensed a pattern." Birdo brought up.

"What kind of pattern?" Maggie asked.

"We go to a dangerous place, fight a guardian, the guardian reverts to normal then mistakes you as Princess Ori. Are you sure you're not hiding anything from us?"

"Wait! That's not the first one we get? And, on top of that, another guardian thought she was Princess Ori?" Daisy asked.

"It's purely coincidental. It must be because I look like that Princess Ori." Maggie said.

"That's the second time. Wait till more of them think you are her." Birdo predicted.

"It happens to people to mistake someone as someone else. Look at koopa troopas. Many of them are identical and I'm sure any of you would mistake one to be another one."

"Yeah, you're right. Sorry about that, Maggie. I just wanted to make sure you were honest with us."

The breakfast went as normal afterwards. The group left the hotel and went to their van. Misses Roseworth chose to stay at the hotel. She trusted that Mario and friends would take good care of Daisy. The group headed out to the Blue Region. At the border, a cheep cheep stood guard and halted the van.

"Good morning, people! You are heading to Azure Cove, am I correct?" The guard asked.

"Yes. Is there something wrong?" Maggie asked.

"Access to the city is currently limited. You can still go in but there are places you will be forbidden to go since they are closed."

"What's happening?"

"Many places in town are crawling with some sort of grey substance. Even when we recirculate water to purify it, the substance comes back. I suggest you listen to the authorities there. They'll be able to tell you more of the problem."

"Thanks for the heads up. See ya."

The van continued into the Blue Region. It first rolled on a highway at higher speed. The highway was nearly deserted today. Very few vehicles headed in and out the region. Though the van could drive faster, Luigi obeyed the law and drove as fast as the signs allowed. An hour passed and the group noticed a bizarre landmark.

"What's that?" Daisy asked.

"That must be Azure Cove." Maggie brought up.

"This!? This looks like a waterpark, not a city!" Birdo pointed out.

The landmark had many slides and pools surrounded by buildings. As the group approached it, they could finally tell it was indeed Azure Cove. Cheep cheeps lived here so they had to built a city fit for their needs. Because it was forbidden to drive in the city, the group parked the van at the entrance. They then entered Azure Cove.

"Where might the Blue Origami Star be?" Birdo asked.

"There's a guide tour for an ancient civilization deep in the sea a few kilometers near the Blue Region. I bet it'll be there." Maggie said.

"How can you tell?" Daisy asked.

"That's the only notable landmark in the Blue Region. Considering how small it is, there's not much space for a guardian to keep an eye on the star on land." The swan replied.

"And how do you know that?" Birdo said, almost accusing her of something.

"There were pamphlets back at the hotel about a tour guide for a sunken city in the Blue Region." The origami answered.

Birdo looked away, a little embarrassed to jump into conclusions. The group met with a figure of authority in the city.

"Hello. If you're looking for something entertaining, you can go to the east part of town where all the aquarium are still open to public. Avoid the north and south part of the city as a strange substance invaded those and turn anyone who gets in contact with it hostile toward others." The cheep cheep said.

"Thank you but do you know if the tour guide to the sunken city is still open?" Maggie asked.

"It must be. Last time I checked was yesterday but they said they made some changes to their tour guide."

"What kind of change?"

"Some of the employees reported to have seen what seems to be a gigantic blue creature. They tried to take photos of if but it always swim too close of the submarine to allow a full picture. On top of that, the creature seems to be able to fire projectiles at anyone so the tour guide requires sturdier submarines with some firepower which makes the tour more expensive."

"Thanks for the info. We'll be going."

"Before that, maybe you'll like to see the other creature at the giant aquarium in Eastern Azure Cove."

"I guess it won't hurt to."

Maggie did not want to see the other creature. Her only point of interest in the Blue Region was the sunken city and that creature swimming near it but chose to go to the aquarium with the others to make Birdo remain quiet regarding any suspicions and correlations between her and Princess Ori. The group arrived at a stadium where many people waited in line. Many booths opened up to pass people faster. Everyone in the group managed to reach a booth in no time and each bought a ticket to see the spectacle. They took seat on the nearest places to the aquarium.

"GOOD MORNING AZURE COVE! TOURISTS AND RESIDENTS, TODAY IS THE FIRST DAY YOU WILL WITNESS THE BEAUTY OF THE OCEAN! WE PROUDLY PRESENT YOU THE GREAT BLUE ESCAPADE!" A voice announced through a speaker.

Many cheep cheeps emerged out the water and began swimming in patterns. The crowd was amazed but became more and more as the cheep cheeps began to perform acrobatics in both the air and the water. Bloopers emerged from the water too and spat ink like fountains to add to the wow factor. An orchestral was playing as the spectacle went. It played the Flower Waltz, a symphony everyone in Azure knew and loved. Then, the bloopers formed two lines to build an unusually large corridor. The cheep cheeps swam through the corridors and returned inside the water. A few spotlights went on and lighted around in the water.

"HERE COMES THE PIÈCE DE RÉSISTANCE, DORRIE!" The speaker announced.

A giant blue dinosaur slowly emerged from the water on one side of the corridor. Its belly and front of the neck was white. It was wearing a pair of goggles on its eyes and a top hat on its head. It slowly swam through the corridor while the bloopers spat their ink in the air to form arcs. Once the monster reached the other side of the corridor, the bloopers dispersed and circled around the dinosaur as it swam around in the aquarium. The dinosaur then splashed the first lane of people sat in the stadium. The spectacle lasted for a while and everyone applauded the performance. While all the other people left, the group stayed behind. They were about to leave too but Dorrie went to see them. It growled cheerfully.

"Look, it's like it's trying to speak to us." Daisy pointed out.

"What is it?" Maggie asked to the dinosaur.

The dinosaur seemed worried and sad. It lowered its head and closed its eyes.

"You don't feel at home here?" Maggie asked.

The dinosaur declined. Being here did not seem to be the problem but what was the problem?

"Something invaded your home?" Birdo asked.

The dinosaur nodded.

"Where do you live?" Maggie asked.

It seemed to be hard for the dinosaur to communicate the answer to the group. It first looked around the stadium then in the water. The group first thought its home was the stadium but it could not be since there was no sign of invasion. Then, Birdo got an idea.

"It's that city deep under the sea, isn't it?" She brought up.

The dinosaur nodded once again. Maybe the gigantic blue creature the figure of authority mentioned earlier was what forced it to leave.

"We'll help you." Daisy proposed.

The dinosaur could not be any happier. It approached its head to the group and caressed everyone. The dinosaur then left the group and went to the other side of the stadium. The group walked around the gigantic aquarium to reach it. The dinosaur wanted to show the group a door at the bottom of the aquarium. It did not have a lock on it, probably to let Dorris swim to the ocean when she was not needed for a spectacle. She opened the door and swam to the docks. The group left the stadium and followed her from the streets. They arrived at the docks a few minutes later. They saw the signs leading to the tour guide. This could be the group's best opportunity to get to the sunken city. So, they headed to the place but no one was in line waiting to get a tour despite all the installation. There was a lonesome cheep cheep standing in front of the entrance.

"Excuse me? Are we too early for the tour?" Maggie asked to the cheep cheep.

"No, the tour guide is currently closed. We got some strange creatures that decided to inhabit the garage where we maintain our submarines and we can't get them out." The owner answered.

"We can help you with your problem." Birdo brought up.

"I suppose you would like something in exchange." The owner asked back.

"Yeah, we'd like a submarine to get to the sunken city." Daisy said.

"That works with me. Go in but be careful. Those creatures are nasty." The owner concluded.

The group entered the garage and saw a dozen of small blue octopus origamis squirming around in there. When the group closed the door behind, all the octopuses looked at them and surrounded them. A battle began. Mario wanted to use a Quake Hammer card but he did not have one in his hands. A Multibounce card could have also helped but he did not have one either.

"If there are cards that do not interest you right now, you can always discard them. The discarded cards will go to the bottom on your deck. However, you'll have to wait the next turn to get new cards." Maggie explained.

Mario chose to skip his turn. Birdo looked into her cards and pulled out a Cannonball card, a gift from Wart. She aimed her funnel mouth at the octopuses and fired a cannonball. Five of them got carried away by the massively heavy projectile. Daisy then equipped an umbrella and attacked an octopus that got beaten. It was now the turn of the foe. The remaining octopuses fired ink at the group but Daisy placed herself in front of her friends and opened her umbrella. The ink flew away in many directions but none reached the group.

"That's interesting. Some Equip Cards can be used defensively. I'll remember that for next time." Maggie remarked.

It was the next turn. Mario finally had what he wanted to use. He took the Multibounce card in his deck and stomped on every remaining octopus. They were all beaten. As usual, Maggie collected the Star Points left behind by the foes. The group opened the door and let the owner enter.

"Geat job! Since you've been able to get rid of those creatures, I'll lend you a special submarine just for you!" The owner congratulated.

They all went in another garage that was pitch-black. The owner flipped a switch and all the lights went on. The group found itself in front of a remarkably sturdy-looking submarine. If fact, it looked much sturdier than any other submarine.

"That's not an ordinary one." Birdo pointed out.

"Absolutely not! This one used to be a prototype commissioned by Bowser when he used to live in the Purple Region. It's equipped with many weapons that can demolish even the strongest material in the world." The owner boasted.

"We just wanted a submarine, no need to give us a war machine." Maggie objected.

"You never know when you're gonna need all that firepower. Plus, I'd like to keep the others for tourists. I've heard of you and how you investigate on that grey stuff."

The owner then left the garage. When he opened the door, many tourists were waiting outside for a tour. The group entered the submarine. Luigi sat at the driver's seat.

"Is there anything you can't drive?" Maggie asked.

"Don't bother. I've never seen anything he can't." Daisy said.

The group all sat down in the submarine and started the engine. The door in front of them opened. Luigi pushed a lever forward and the submarine moved forward to exit the garage.


	8. Chapter Blue 2

**Chapter Blue 2: Into the Sea**

The submarine was moving forward but no one knew where to go.

"Where's that sunken city?" Birdo asked.

"Before we go there, we need to meet with Dorrie. I'm sure she knows the way." Maggie said.

She went to the front to see Luigi. One of the apparels on the command board was beeping. Maggie noticed it was a round screen with a bar rotating around. Every cycle, the bar would reveal a dot and the apparel would beep.

"What's that?" Maggie asked.

"That's a radar. It tells when something's near." Daisy answered.

Maggie nodded. She looked around in the submarine and saw a strange apparel sticking out from the ceiling. It seemed like a pair of binocular at the end. She looked into the binocular-like piece and was able to see outside. She could even rotate it to see around. She then spotted Dorrie faraway swimming to them. She left the periscope and went back to the front. She looked at the different dials on the command board and spotted a compass.

"She's coming from the northwest." Maggie said to Luigi.

Luigi pulled back the lever he pushed earlier. The submarine slowed down until it completely stopped. The difference in its momentum caused Maggie to be thrown in the front but Daisy managed to catch her before she hit the glass. The rest of the group went to the front and they all saw Dorrie swimming on front of them. The dinosaur examined the submarine.

"She doesn't seem to recognize us. Should we open the hatch and get out?" Birdo proposed.

Luigi hooked off a walkie-talkie from the command board and lent it to Maggie.

"Hi Dorrie!" She said through the walkie-talkie.

Dorrie recognized Maggie's voice. She smiled and howled. With one of her flippers, she signed the submarine to follow her. She then dove underwater.

"This is it! We're going in." Daisy cheered up, excited.

Luigi pushed back the first lever and pulled down another one. The sea level rose above the submarine's front glass. They could finally see underwater. The submarine swam through the blue space and lowered as Dorrie also lowered. On their way, the group saw many fish and even a school of fish of many colors. Daisy had her camera with her and took photos of the fish. They also met bigger fish like sushi and eels. Some eels swam quite close to them. This scared Maggie a little bit but Mario reassured her.

"I'm sorry. I tend to be afraid of things that are way bigger than me." Maggie confessed.

"Who wouldn't be? Those things could easily eat us in one bite!" Birdo joked.

Maggie closed her eyes and covered them with her wings. She let out a little scream but eventually calmed down as Mario caressed her back. The submarine went deeper and deeper as it followed Dorrie. The deeper it went, the darker the sea became. At some point, it became so dark no one could see anything.

"Are we lost?" Daisy asked to Luigi.

The green plumber was not afraid which was unusual considering he was always afraid of something in times of uncertainty. He just pushed a button on the Command board and lights on the front of the submarine turned on. They could see Dorrie again but they could not see anything else much considering how vast and dark the sea was at its deepest. They eventually reach the bottom of the sea and swam close to it. There was not much at the bottom. It was like a desert completely emerged. They followed Dorrie until the group stumbled across what seemed to be an ancient forgotten civilization. Luigi pulled back the first lever and the submarine stopped.

"Is that the sunken city we're talking about?" Birdo asked, amazed by the beauty of the landmark.

"It has to be. Otherwise, they would give us a name to distinguish it from the others." Daisy said, wowed by the view.

"The Blue Origami Star has to be there." Maggie said.

The radar began beeping twice in a row. The group did not pay much attention to it but the second beeping caught their attention.

"What's going on?" Maggie asked.

Luigi whistled. Everyone looked back at him but some of them saw Dorrie charging toward the submarine. Maggie immediately picked up the walkie-talkie.

"Dorrie, what are you doing!? Stop!?" She ordered.

The dinosaur did not listen. With her weight, she pushed the submarine backward. She was bigger than it so she succeeded. Behind her, the group saw a massively huge blue wall passing by. They all got scared. Dorrie then released the submarine and looked at the moving wall. It was moving at it high speed. It would have surely wrecked the little submarine. Though, it was not a wall. It did not seem like one after wall. It had a bizarre form and, as it moved, it slightly shrank. It did have an end though but it was a propeller. As it left, Luigi steered the submarine to have a better view of the thing that just passed by. It was another submarine but much bigger than his.

"The Blue Guardian!" Maggie screamed.

The guardian vanished into the darkness.

"What should we do now?" Birdo asked.

"It's simple. We fight that submarine or it'll destroy us." Daisy said.

"We have no other choice. We need to stop it." Maggie confirmed.

They saw torpedoes emerging from the darkness. Luigi moved the submarine to avoid the projectiles.

"Alright, everyone, at your post!" Maggie ordered.

Birdo sat down on a seat with the control of the weaponry. Mario sat on the other side with more control for other weaponry. Maggie stayed close to the periscope. Luigi drove the submarine according to the radar. Dorrie went to swim ahead of them to help them spot the Blue Guardian. The guardian emerged from the darkness and fired two torpedoes at the submarine. Dorrie managed to catch one with her mouth and redirect it toward the Blue Guardian while the other one was easily avoided. The first torpedo hit the Blue Guardian right on one of the front hatches used to fire them. It rendered it out of use. The Blue Guardian kept swimming and the group managed to chase after it thanks to the improved propeller their submarine had.

"Fire!" Maggie ordered.

Birdo pressed a button on her command board and the others saw a torpedo coming out the submarine to land a direct hit on the propeller of the Blue Guardian. It did not manage to destroy it but it at least did some damage. Then, a light began appearing on the propeller of the guardian.

"What's happening?" Maggie asked.

No one could answer but Luigi pushed a lever forward and their submarine dropped in altitude. A giant laser came out of the propeller just above them.

"Phew! That was too close." Daisy commented.

Luigi swam forward and caught up with the guardian. They were swimming right under it.

"Is there some way to hit it from under?" Maggie asked.

Mario just had the answer. He pressed a button on his command board and they heard a torpedo firing away. They then heard it explode on something. But then, they saw spiked balls sinking from above.

"Mines!" Maggie screamed.

Luigi manoeuvered around the explosives and Mario fired another torpedo. It was another hit. This time, they noticed the Blue Guardian slowly dropping in altitude.

"Oh no! It's about to squash us!" Daisy said.

Luigi moved aside and went back up in altitude. The group watched as the Blue Guardian crashed on the bottom of the ocean and scrubbed the sandy floor. The group rejoiced but it was not over yet. Luigi swam right behind the guardian's sail. Both Mario and Birdo pressed buttons on their command board and the submarine fired a hail of torpedoes at the sail. The sail was destroyed and a grey substance went out of it. The Blue Guardian stopped. Dorrie came back and pushed the submarine back.

"Dorrie, stop! It's over!" Maggie said in the walkie-talkie.

Dorrie was not pushing the submarine for the same reason as earlier. When she moved out of the way, the group saw the Blue Guardian from afar. It then exploded and the shockwave from the explosion slightly shook people inside the submarine. Once the way became clear, the group drove the submarine to the crater made by the explosion and spotted a tiny submarine origami unconscious at the bottom. Luigi pressed a few buttons on the command board and pincers came out the submarine to pick up the blue origami. Afterward, the group followed Dorrie back to the sunken city. They found a building with an opening large enough to fit a submarine an even a water-free spot where they could go out safely. Once outside, the group put the tiny blue origami down. It was the same size as Maggie. It then woke up and was surprised to see Maggie.

"You, are you…" The blue origami began.

"I'm Maggie." The swan interrupted.

"Oh… Nice to see you still. What happened to me?"

"You were wreaking havoc in the sea near the Blue Region. Do you remember anything before?"

"If I do? Why yes, there were some origamis pouring down some grey substance from a boat. I went to them and told them to stop but one of them poured that stuff right onto me and I woke up just now. I am terribly sorry for my actions."

"It's okay. Who are you though?"

"Me? I'm Sapphire, the Blue Guardian. I keep the Blue Origami Star safely with the help of Dorrie."

"Speaking of star, may we have yours?"

"You're planning to meet Lord Igami?"

"Actually, someone took over the Silver Palace and I fear he might be in danger."

"In that case, I'll be back in a second."

Sapphire left the room and came back with a big origami of a blue star. He gave it to Maggie and the star shrank to the size of a badge.

"Tell me. Is it the first star you get?" Sapphire asked.

"That's the third one. We already got the red and the yellow ones." Daisy brought up."

"So you must've met Ruby and Topaz."

"Yeah, they got controlled by that grey stuff just like you." Birdo said.

"Is that so? In that case, the other guardians might also be infected." The blue origami warned.

"We'll be going." Maggie concluded.

The group headed back to the submarine and followed Dorrie back to the surface. They brought the submarine back to the garage. They took a look around town to see if anything changed after they freed the Blue Guardian. They noticed all the aquarium were filled with water and fish and that tourists were no longer gathered in the east of Azure Cove but were instead spread all over the city. Water slides, new spectacles, everything was open. However, the day was almost over.

"Alright! Let's slide!" Daisy proposed.

"I have to go back to the hotel, guys." Maggie said.

"Why? You don't look tired." Birdo pointed out.

Maggie pulled out the two letters she received today and yesterday. She showed them to her friends.

"So some guy named Rio would like to meet us now? In that case, we should see him. I don't like to keep people waiting." Birdo concluded.

The group headed back to the minivan at the entrance of Azure Cove and drove back to Miitropolis. They went to room 810 and Maggie knocked on the door. She waited a few seconds but no one answered.

"I don't think anyone is home right now." Birdo said.

"That's because none of you know how to knock. Step aside!" Daisy taunted.

She went to the door and…

"Open up!" She shouted while she slammed on the door loudly.

"Come in! It's unlocked!" A faint voice shouted back.

Daisy turned the doorknob and the door opened. The group slowly made their way inside room 810. The first thing they noticed was the big mess of papers and newspapers scattered all over the main room. From the bathroom, a black paper plane with red eyes went to see them. It saw Maggie and seemed surprised.

"Wow! You're pretty." The origami let out.

It was somewhat obvious that it was not what the origami wanted to tell Maggie from Birdo. Maggie also seemed to be surprised to see the paper plane.

"You must be Rio." Maggie said.

"Yes, that's me! Sorry for the mess in my room. I've been working all day long and I only came out my room to eat breakfast and lunch. If you're here, you must have at least three Origami Stars?" The paper plane replied.

"Yes I have them here."

"Excellent! Won't you mind if I join you on your journey?"

"I guess. What are you working on?"

"I've been investigating the grey substance that has been plaguing the Rainbow Continent for years and I am trying to find its origin. On a side note, I am also investigating on the disappearance of Princess Ori and Prince Gami."

"Well, welcome aboard, Rio. Is there someplace you'd like to go tomorrow?"

"I would like to visit the Purple Continent. Since not many people ventured into this place, I need to go there to investigate the presence of grey substance. Is it okay with you?"

"I don't mind. I'll ask the others."

Maggie looked back at her friends. They all nodded.

"Perfect! See you tomorrow." Rio said.

While the rest of the group left the room to go back to the other one, Maggie stayed with Rio. She did not mind the mess as she did not need much space to sleep. She even helped Rio tidy the room. Before sleeping, they rested on the couch.

"So, where are you from?" Rio asked.

"I don't know. It's been a while since I left home." Maggie answered.

"What are you doing with them?"

"I'm helping Mario and Luigi to rescue Peach from Bowser."

"Bowser? You are sure about that?"

"Yeah, I have the proof right here."

Maggie pulled out the letter and showed it to Rio.

"Strange… Last I heard of him was a week ago and I heard he fell sick." Rio brought up.

"Don't believe everything you say." Maggie replied.

"I know but I still hear from the Mushroom Kingdom about Bowser being sick. I've heard of the giant Bowser Origami that destroyed Peach's Castle but I can't make up my mind. Something's shady about this whole thing."

"You think someone else is using Bowser's image to hide himself?"

"Maybe but, to be sure, we need to meet someone who's in direct contact with Bowser."

"Yeah… Anyway, did anyone tell you that you look like Prince Gami?"

"That's funny. You're the first person to tell me that. How about you? How many people mistook you for Princess Ori?"

"One too many. It's getting to the point they believe I'm really her."

"I see. Well, it's getting late tonight. See you tomorrow."

Rio left the living room and went sleeping in the closet. Maggie stayed awake a little more.

"You really do look like Gami…" She whispered before falling asleep.


	9. Chapter Purple 1

**PURPLE CHAPTERS: AN OLD ENEMY**

 **Chapter Purple 1: The Mysterious Spaceship**

Maggie was the first to wake up in Rio's room. She looked outside and just noticed the sun about to rise. This time, she woke up much earlier than yesterday to make sure no one would wake her up. For fun, she went to the closet where Rio was sleeping and slowly opened it to make as little sound as possible. The door did squeak but it was not enough to disturb Rio who was still sleeping. Maggie gave him a little kiss on what she deemed to be a cheek. Since Rio was just a paper plane, it was hard to distinguish one facial trait from another. The kiss slowly woke him up.

"Oh? Good morning, Maggie. Are you already ready to go?" He yawned.

"Not yet but I wanted you to wake up so we could start together." Maggie giggled.

They left the closet and began their preparation. Maggie did not have much to prepare aside her bag so she helped Rio pick up his papers afterwards. Then, someone knocked at the door. The swan went to answer it. It was Birdo. She seemed ready to go judging by the luggage she was carrying.

"Hi Birdo! Is everyone at the other room ready?" Maggie asked.

"Actually, I wanted to tell you I have to go back to Flaxen City." Birdo replied.

"Is that so?"

"Yes, I have to switch my agent first then do a test with my new agent to see if we can still get the same popularity as before."

"Would you like us to bring you back there before we leave?"

"Thanks but I already have a friend waiting for me at the reception. Don't worry though. I'll come back with you once everything is set for my singing career."

"Alright. See you next time, Birdo."

"You too."

The door closed. Maggie went back to Rio who was now ready. They both left room 810 and went to their other room. Everyone else was also ready though only Mario, Luigi and Daisy would come with the origamis. With everything set, the group went to the minivan and drove to the Purple Region.

"I've heard something terrible happened to Bowser City there." Maggie brought up.

"Indeed, a bunch of piranha plants and dry bones took over the city forcing everyone to evacuate the entire region. They built a giant wall around it to contain the invasion." Rio explained.

"But piranha plants can easily go under the wall. How is it that we don't see any of them outside the Purple Region?" Daisy pointed out.

"That's a great question. I suppose they built the wall in depth until they reached the rock. I doubt piranha plants can go through rocks." The paper plane replied.

"That must've costed a fortune to Bowser." Maggie laughed.

"It sure did but he had no choice. It was the only way he knew that could stop the monsters to spread any further on the Rainbow Continent. Plus, it would've been seen as an international act of criminal negligence which would be far worse than all the times he kidnapped Peach combined."

The minivan stopped at the giant wall. An outpost was built inside the wall. The group left the minivan and entered the outpost. Not many people was inside except a few hammer bros. One of them went to see the group. This one was not pleased to see them.

"Where do you think you're all going? The region is off limit to tourists." The hammer bro said with his authoritarian tone.

"Hello. I'm Rio and I'd like to enter the Purple Region to investigate what happened to the city." The paper plane said.

"Can't do. You need a special permission from a highly ranked person from the Koopa Kingdom. Here are the names of said person."

The hammer bro pointed a board with less than a dozen names on it. Though Maggie and Rio knew who the two first names, Bowser and Kamek, were, they had no idea who the seven other people were. Mario and Luigi might have an idea about those but, being unable to speak, it would take a bit too long for them to explain. The hammer bro then looked back at the group. It was then he noticed the Mario brothers.

"Oh? You have those two with you? Why didn't you say anything about them earlier?" The hammer bro asked.

"Is there something wrong with them?" Maggie asked.

"Not at all. Since you have the famous Mario brothers with you, we can make an exception to the rule. Besides, it's not like we can stop them with how strong they are."

"Thanks!" Daisy simply said.

"Another thing: there are strange cases of abduction that had been reported in the recent years." The hammer bro brought up.

"Abductions?" Rio asked.

"Yeah, we can them strange because, whenever someone gets abducted, he's immediately put back at the same exact place as if whatever is abducting those people is looking for someone in particular."

"We'll be careful then."

The group left the outpost through the opposite door. They were now in the Purple Region. Its tall buildings were still standing albeit decaying due to the lack of maintenance and the overgrowth of vegetation. Bowser City was a few miles away from the border but the group could see all the plants growing on the skyscrapers. The group slowly walked toward Bowser City while looking around. The road leading to the city was heavily cracked and plants grew through the cracks. As the group approached Bowser City, they heard a weird unfamiliar sound. It seemed to be coming from above. They all looked up and saw an UFO hovering above them.

"Oh no! We're gonna get abducted!" Maggie screamed.

The UFO had a round light under and it fired a beam of light at the group. Everyone was slowy being dragged into the ship. There was nothing they could do. When they reached the ship, they were completely blinded. They all woke up in a holding cell. There did not seem to be anyone else around. A few minutes later, a snake went to see the prisoners. Daisy jumped at the barrier that separated the snake from the group.

"What's the meaning of this!?" She yelled, infuriated.

"The captain would like to see you. He said he knows you and some of the others currently with you." The snake replied.

"But I don't know anyone who owns a spaceship."

"The captain has an interest in you."

The snake opened the cell and the group left it. They walked through the corridors and noticed the unusual but familiar minions acting as the crew.

"Daisy, who would want you?" Rio asked.

"I don't know. I remember I've been kidnapped by someone once but never again. Maybe that person is the one who wants me." The woman brought up.

"Don't you remember his name?"

"He never told me."

The group kept following the snake until they reached a door "guarded" by a strange humanoid. It looked like a small purple goblin with pointy ears and was around the same size of a toad and probably a bit taller than one and had two fangs coming out its mouth upward. It was wearing a black top hat and a vest of the same color. Since the vest was open, everyone could see its white shirt that matched color with the shoes and the red bowtie which matched its pants. It held a cane and had its eyes closed. It boasted a confident pose in front of the group.

"You must be Daisy." The goblin greeted as he tipped his hat to the group.

Everyone saw the yellow hairs on the goblin's head. They were well-combed for something a bit too hideous for such care to its look.

"Yes. Who's asking?" Daisy asked back.

"My master is very eager to meet you. He has also given permission to your friends to come on the bridge."

The goblin opened the door and the group entered. They found themselves in a pitch black room. Lights turned on one by one and everyone noticed the shadow of a tall imposing stranger wearing a cape. Maggie was trembling a little but Mario saw her and reassured her.

"Master! Your guests are here." The goblin said.

The shadow turned around. It began longing the walls.

"Ah! At last, you have come back! After all those years of searching you two, I have finally succeeded and no one shall stop me this time!" The shadow spoke.

The voice was monstrous. Maggie was already convinced the captain was some sort of otherworldly demon that could preyed on even the strongest people. If this thing managed to capture Daisy once, she was afraid of its true power.

"Who are you?" Daisy asked.

"Do you not remember me!? I have captured you a long time ago only to be beaten by that pesky plumber! Today, this will change! Today, my victory shall triumph over even the most powerful hero in history or my name is not TATANGA!" The shadow spoke.

Maggie let out a scream. Something odd happened. As the shadow longed the wall toward the wall, it shrank to the point it became as small as the goblin. From the shadow emerged another purple goblin. This one seemed to be more bat-like with its slightly bigger ears and its nose. It was wearing a frilled black uniform and a cape. It approached the group. Daisy seemed more charmed than afraid.

"You look so adorable!" She said to the second goblin.

She then took it in her arms. Tatanga became annoyed.

"I'm not adorable! I'm evil! Put me down!" He said.

Daisy obliged and put him down. The others looked at him, all about to laugh. Tatanga exasperatedly sighed. He did not expect to be treated like a pet on his comeback in his evil schemes.

"So, who are you again?" Rio asked.

"I just said my name!" Tatanga reminded the paper plane.

"I know but who are you again?"

"I was the one who kidnapped Daisy long ago! Show me some respect at least!"

"Oh! I remember now. But, you only tried once, right?"

"I've been planning for years to get her back without anyone getting in my way. And today is the day I'll put my plan to execution!"

Tatanga pulled out what seemed to be an old handheld videogame console.

"You're gonna fight us with a Gameboy? You can't be serious!" Maggie laughed.

"Just watch." The alien simply said.

He pressed a button on the Gameboy which turned it on. The screen became white and then a pixelated arm came out the screen and grabbed Daisy and Mario, pulling them into the Gameboy. The origamis gasped as they saw their friends being beaten by an old videogame console. Tatanga seemed surprised.

"It worked!? It worked! I can't believe it! Katsini! Bring out the champagne! I did it after years of careful planning!" The alien exclaimed.

"Yes, master." The other purple goblin said.

Katsini left the bridge. There was only Maggie, Rio and Luigi remaining in the group.

"What about us?" Maggie asked.

"You? I don't have business with any of you. You can leave the ship." The alien said.

"But we need Mario and Daisy." Rio brought up.

"Too bad. You'll have to beat me and I have the power so don't try!"

As he was boasting of his exploit, Tatanga accidently dropped the Gameboy on the floor. It hit the floor but did not break. Rio tried to take it from the alien but the latter was quicker. Rio immediately backed off as Tatanga aimed the Gameboy at him.

"HA! Did you really think you could outsmart me!? Guess again!" Tatanga taunted.

He pressed the same button on the Gameboy. Rio closed his eyes. Though, something seemed very wrong presently. The look on Tatanga's face became more and more awkward. Maggie and Luigi just stood there and noticed that he was holding the Gameboy to aim at itself.

"Oh scrap…" The alien let out before…

The pixelated hand came out the device once again. It grabbed Tatanga's face to pull him into the Gameboy. Three persons were now trapped inside the videogame console. The others went to it to examine it. Katsini just returned with a bottle of champagne. He was not surprised of the situation.

"Excuse me, Mister Katsini. How do we free everyone from this thing?" Maggie asked.

"The device plays an old game named Super Mario Land. You'll have to beat the game to free everyone." The butler answered.

Maggie slowly looked back at the Gameboy. Rio was thinking she was not up to the task but she seemed confident.

"I've been waiting for all those years for this one moment in my life. Finally, I get to use my skills once again." She brought up, somewhat on the verge of tears.

(Gami… I know you would've wanted to see me beat the game for the first time. I'm sorry but I have to do it know without you around… To save my friends…) she thought.

She took the Gameboy in her wings and started a new game. She went through the four levels carefully as she did not want to have to start all over again. She came at many times to lose a life and sometimes to even get a game over but she managed to save her playthrough and press on. When she got to the final boss, she was excited and nervous at the same time. She never got to that point. She always lost before so she had no idea what to expect. Eventually, she succeeded in beating the game and could finally hear the credits theme play. Once the credits were over, the screen flashed and everyone was back. Mario and Daisy were perfectly fine.

"Woohoo! You did it, Maggie!" Daisy congratulated.

Everyone gathered around Maggie to do the same. They then heard someone groaning in pain. They looked around and saw Tatanga all beaten up and lying on the floor.

"I'm done. I give up. It's a complete humiliation to lose to a tiny paper swan." He lamented.

Katsini decided to offer the bottle of champagne to the group. The group would love to drink it now but they were on a mission and needed their entire mind into it. They kept the bottle with them. Though, Maggie was still looking at Tatanga. She went to see him. The alien had his eyes closed.

"Mister Tatanga, it was a genius plan you had there." Maggie complimented.

The alien opened his eyes and looked at Maggie.

"Just leave me alone, kid." He replied.

"I admire you take time to plan something to ensure you wouldn't fail too many times… unlike Bowser."

"Thanks, kid. But I'm done."

"Don't give up. What happened earlier was just a common mistake we all do."

"So you'll encourage me to kidnap Daisy again?"

"If that's what you want to do, then go for it. Just remember there will always be obstacles in your way that you'll have to surpass like us."

Tatanga smiled at her. He stood back up and approached the origami.

"I guess I'll just take a break then." He declared.

"In that case, is there something else you had to do?" Maggie asked.

"Not much. I won't plan another scheme before at least a week, just to take a break of that stuff."

"In that case, would you like to join us in our journey?"

"What kind of journey?"

"We're travelling across the Rainbow Continent to get Origami Stars to reach the Silver Palace. Bowser kidnapped Peach and took her there."

"Alright. I guess it won't hurt to be a hero once in my career. Katsini! Prepare the teleporter! Where do we go next, Miss…"

"Maggie, and it'll be in Bowser city."

"You heard her, Katsini!"

"Yes, master." The butler said.

The group, now with Tatanga in it, followed their new friend to the teleporter room. Katsini had everything already prepared to beam back down to where the group was previously abducted. Everyone stood on the beacon and Katsini programmed the computer controlling the teleporter to activate it. A beam of light appeared and everyone inside it vanished.


	10. Chapter Purple 2

**Chapter Purple 2: Bowser City**

The group was beamed down back to where it was originally abducted. Before they went to Bowser City, they discussed of a way to avoid as many monsters as they could once inside.

"So, what's the plan?" Daisy asked.

"One of my sources told me of a secret passage that directly leads in a secret laboratory under the city. I suggest we take that passage." Rio brought up.

Everyone nodded at him. The paper plane led the way. He went behind a rock and searched in a nearby bush to pull a lever thus revealing an entrance inside the rock. The group entered the rock and were now in a dark passage. Luigi thankfully had a flashlight and he was now leading the way inside the tunnel.

"Mister Tatanga, do you know anything about Bowser?" Maggie asked.

"You mean that big fat clumsy turtle guy? He's a nice guy." The alien answered.

"Do you say this because you two are villains?" Rio accused.

"Of course not! He's a really nice guy albeit obsessed with Peach so much he takes little to no time to plan anything. Also, how can you be sure he's the one who kidnapped her this time?"

Maggie showed the bat boy the letter.

"Hmmm, I don't imagine Bowser writing that clumsily. Plus, he'd write a letter more like an invitation than a ransom. It looks like someone's trying to impersonate him but knows nothing about him." Tatanga concluded.

"I just presented you the proof of his undoing! Are you really gonna deny it!?" Maggie said, annoyed.

"What's with that hostility toward me? You're hiding something from us?"

"Are you implying I'm the one who wrote this!?"

"Not necessarily but you seem to be holding a grudge against him. I'm just saying someone else might have kidnapped Peach this time. Do you know if she has other enemies besides Bowser?"

"Oh… I'm terribly sorry. I didn't think about that. So, Bowser is not some terrible tyrant you say?"

"Have you ever seen the man in person?"

Maggie looked away, a little embarrassed. She looked back at the alien and shook her head. The group continued into the tunnel until they reached a dead end. Rio pressed on the wall and it opened. Behind it was a complex of futuristic-looking rooms. Everyone entered the new area and took a look around. They could tell they were in a laboratory with the many notes scattered around in the rooms and the computers.

"Where are we?" Daisy asked.

"This must be one of the two secret laboratories in Bowser City. Let's take a look at the notes to see which one we're in." Rio said.

The group looked around in the rooms. They stumbled across an old television with a video cassette player plugged on it. All was standing on a desk with one of its drawer locked with a padlock.

"I'm not good at guessing locker's combination. Is anyone here good at that?" Rio asked.

Tatanga did not let anyone answer as he pulled out a silly-looking firearm and blew up the padlock with it. The drawer opened and many video cassettes were inside.

"Well, that works too." Maggie said.

The group was now curious of the video cassettes. Those all had labels on them depicting a day, a month and a year. They browsed them and took the one they deemed to be the first one. The cassette player already had one inside so they ejected it. This one must have been the last cassette recorded. They played the first cassette that was labelled October 1st 2013. The television turned on and a female koopa wearing a lab coat appeared on the screen:

"This is Klaira Koopa, senior biologist and researcher for the new FEMS made by Arch Magister Kamek. Day 1: I've just moved in this laboratory and I am very anxious of beginning tests with the serum. Though we only prepared the place today for our experiment. Sometimes I wish I was in the FDRS group as reviving the dead seems more interesting than mutating the plants. Having known I'd end up working in a secret lab years ago I would've studied for a major in koopa anatomy instead of biology. That's all for today. Klaira out."

The screen went black. The group searched in the cassettes and pulled out one that said October 16th 2013. They ejected the first one and put the second one. The same koopa appeared on the screen:

"Day 16: Tests of the FEMS have proven to be working. Here are some of the results we obtained in the previous weeks."

Klaira grabbed the screen and placed it in front of a glass panel with many piranha plants behind it. Most of them were biting in the air with no reason or motive behind it.

"We gave them the codename P1R4NH4 but most of us call them piranha plants. Arch Magister Kamek was satisfied of the results and gave us a new type of plant that seems to be of the same family as the test subjects. We're currently calculating its rate of mutation for the future. Klaira out."

"That's immoral!" Maggie let out.

"This must've been from where the incident began but I see no sign of grey substance anywhere." Rio said.

"Let's keep watching those. Maybe the answer will come later." Tatanga proposed.

The group ejected the second tape and put in the third one. It was labelled October 31st 2013. Klaira reappeared on the screen:

"Day 31: Test subject P3T3Y mutated much faster than we predicted which made Kamek jump out in joy. I've never seen him that happy before and he's usually grumpy. As for the test subject, it's impossible to predict the next pattern and…"

"Who are you talking to, mommy?" A new voice spoke.

This caught Klaira's attention who looked away from the camera. The group was intrigued.

"I'm talking to the camera and it's recording me. Say hello to it, Petey." Klaira said as she moved the screen.

The group was now seeing an incredibly huge plant with yellow petals on its big round red polka-dot head. It had green lips with pointy teeth in its mouth. It was wearing a swimsuit of the same color as its head and was standing on two small pointy legs. Maggie got startled and hid behind Mario.

"Hello!" The plant said as it waved one of its big leaves at the screen.

"Alright. I still need to record. I'll come back to you once I'm done." Klaira's voice spoke.

"Alright, bye!"

The plant left the room and the screen went back on Klaira.

"As you may notice, I named it Petey since its codename is a mouthful and it acts like a person unlike the other test subjects. No one seems to follow me with my idea but it must be because Petey is only friendly with me. It began calling me mommy as if I'm raising him. Things might get more and more awkward in the following days if it keeps calling me so. Klaira out."

The group ejected the tape and put the next one labelled January 1st 2014. Klaira appeared on screen once again but seemed exasperated and was holding a bottle of something:

"Day 93: New year, new me I guess. I don't know. I'm not in the mood to record this but I have to anyway. So, I've recently introduced Petey to the holidays since it seems to be sentient. It was funny to see him wear all those Christmas decorations on him as he pretended to be a Christmas tree. Then January 31st came and Kamek made a surprise visit at the lab and saw everything. He scolded me for not turning Petey into what he wanted and even threatened me to ban me from the region if I didn't comply. Now, Petey has to stay in his room for the rest of the days. Is it that surprising this magikoopa guy doesn't have any friends besides the king? I'm pretty sure even the koopalings hate his face and those guys have to be with him much more often than I do. And I'll say it to you, Kamek: Petey is a living being, not a tool! So I'd rather be turned into a dry bone than having to turn Petey into a slave or a weapon. Klaira out!"

As the video played, Klaira often took a sip from her bottle and became more and more exasperated. Her speech also became more and more incomprehensible despite her talking normally. The group took the last video tape from the desk that was labelled April 18th 2014 and replace the one inside the player with it. The screen went on and Klaira appeared again but was now depressed:

"Day 198: Someone breached into the secret lab last night and took away Petey. I found it strange because that someone did not even bother to take any of the piranha plants in here. Though some people accuse a group of environmentalists for the crime, I'm guessing a corporate hired a spy to take Petey considering how advanced it was compared to the others. Kamek is at his angriest but now he won't be able to blame me for putting sticks in the wheels of his evil schemes anymore."

Klaira first sighed then put her face on the desk. She hid her face with her arms and sobbed. She slowly looked back at the screen with her eyes now red and the tears longing her face from them.

"Petey, if you ever come across these, I still love you, my baby. Wherever you are, as soon as I leave this place, I'll find you and we'll be a happy little family once we'll be back together again."

She then sobered up but became enraged.

"And for you, Kamek, if you're the one watching this, I hope you and all the other monstrous freaks that agree with you will rot in the underwhere! And once you and I are done with this world, I'll be seeing you there. Klaira… Out!"

Everyone in the group flinched a little bit. They ejected the tape and put the one that was already in the player before they arrived. This one had no label on it. When the screen went back on, Klaira was holding the screen constantly. She was afraid and crying and the place where she was barely had light:

"Day 396: Stupid scientists at the FDRS divisions that wanted to spice up their Halloween party. Now, everyone's paying for their stupid mistake. Petey, I don't know how long I still have before they find me but remember I'll always love you, my baby, and that if I ever get out of this alive I'll… Wait. What was that?"

Sounds of a banging door could be heard in the video. The group then heard the same door being breached. Klaira gasped and dropped the screen which was conveniently placed to see the doorframe flooding with dry bones.

"Oh no! They're here! Someone, help me!"

The screen went instantly black before anything else could happen. They group looked down to take a moment of silence of the poor victim of the incident that happened years ago. Their moment was however interrupted when they heard footsteps coming from a nearby hallway. They slowly approached the door to it. A dry bone showed itself in front of them.

"Ah! We're gonna meet the same fate as her!" Maggie screamed as she hid behind Mario.

"What are you kids doing in here?" The dry bone asked.

"What do you mean? You're not one of those monsters that invaded the city long ago?" Rio asked back.

"Well, a few weeks after the invasion, the dry bones became tame and decided to inhabit the city with the piranha plants due to the absence of anyone else."

"So, everything is fine around here?" Tatanga asked.

"That's right! Well, except for our mayor who's going berserk in the streets right now." The dry bone brought up.

"What happened to the mayor?" Daisy asked.

"We don't know. Out of nowhere, he began terrorising all the dry bones and piranha plants in the streets. Would you help us with this?"

"I guess we could." Rio answered.

"Thank goodness! Let me take you back to the surface." The dry bone proposed.

The group followed the dry bone through many corridors and stairs. They came out into a florist run by a few piranha plants and were led outside. They were now in Bowser City. The ground was shaking.

"Alright. Our mayor should be here anytime soon." The dry bone commented.

The group looked around and they saw, turning a corner and heading toward them, a giant purple origami of a bizarre creature. It had three heads, a lion, a goat and a dragon one, as well as another one on its tail. The last one was a snake head. It had huge imposing bat wings he flapped.

"This can't be your mayor. The Purple Guardian, of all the things in here, is your mayor!?" Rio said.

"Well, that's when he's currently not himself." The dry bone said.

"Hold up. Let me try something." Tatanga brought up.

The alien slowly approached the giant monster. He pulled out a snack bar from his uniform and showed it to the monster.

"Hey, big scary monster. You're not yourself when you're hungry. Here, have this snack bar." He proposed as he waved the treat around.

The chimera opened one of its mouths, the lion one, and Tatanga threw the snack bar in it.

"There, do you feel better?" The alien asked.

The monster roared at him. The bat boy quickly backed off as the chimera tried to attack him with the snake head. He joined back his friends.

"What was the point of that!?" Maggie yelled.

"I don't know. I just wanted to try something." Tatanga replied.

"I hope you can defend yourself because we'll have to fight it. I hope you have cards on you."

"Cards? Oh wait. I actually have cards."

The group prepared themselves to fight the Purple Guardian. Since Tatanga was smaller than everyone, he could start first. He browsed his cards in a very distinctive manner. He had a gadget that displayed holographic images of his cards in his hand. He tapped a card that had a silly-looking firearm on it and he was now equipped with it. He aimed at the Purple Guardian but…

"Wait! I think I have a plan. Let's feed all its mouths with snack." Daisy proposed.

"We already tried on one mouth, Daisy! How do you expect to work on the others? Besides, Tatanga already used an Equip Card which means he can't use an Item Card on the same turn." Maggie pointed out.

"Actually…" Tatanga began.

The alien took another snack bar from his pocket and showed it to the chimera. This time, the goat head opened and the bat boy threw the treat into the mouth. The beast seemed to be calming down.

"Oh! Of course you can do that! You have such ability." Maggie let out.

"Maggie, it's working. Let's stop complaining for once." Rio said.

The swan stopped talking. It was Mario's turn who took a snack bar and fed it to the dragon mouth. Daisy, on the other hand, had to improvise to get hers to the last mouth on the tail. She threw it in the air and the snake mouth caught it with its mouth. The monster began unfolding and shrank in size. It folded itself again into a much smaller chimera around the same size as Maggie and Rio.

"Oohh…"

"That."

"Fills."

"A."

"Nice."

"Hole."

All of its mouth spoke and interrupted each other saves for the snake mouth which did not speak a single word. The chimera looked at the group with its head and saw the origamis.

"Princess!"

"Ori!"

"And!"

"Prince!"

"Gami!?"

"I!"

"Was!"

"Not!"

"Slacking!"

"Off!" The origami said with its many mouths.

"Alright. First off, my name is Rio. And, second, stop using your mouths to speak a single word each." The paper plane said.

"And I'm Maggie." The swan said.

"Phew." The lion head let out.

"I'm glad for once I'm not seeing them." The goat head said.

"So, what brings you here?" The dragon head asked.

"We're here for the Purple Origami Star." Maggie brought up.

"You want to meet Lord Igami?" The lion head asked.

"In that case, we'll be back in a moment." The dragon head replied.

The small purple origami left the streets and came back with a giant purple star it shrank into a badge and gave it to the group.

"Thank you…" Rio began, not knowing the guardian's name.

"Amethyst." The snake head said.

"That's the only word he can say so we let him say it." The lion head added.

"So, you're not victim of the grey substance?" Maggie asked.

"A grey substance?" The lion asked back.

"Never heard of it." The goat head said.

"It might be because there are technically no livings here." The dragon head theorized.

"In that case, I guess we'll leave." Rio concluded.

Before the group could leave, the dry bone that led them to the streets came back to see them.

"I suppose you must've watched my video tapes." The dry bone brought up.

"Wait! You're Klaira Koopa!?" Daisy asked.

"Yes, I was. But, if you ever find Petey, please tell him to come see me."

"Will do." Rio said.

With that and only five Origami Stars remaining, the group left Bowser City and back to the outpost. The hammer bros there were baffled to see them without a scratch. The group returned to their minivan and headed back to the hotel. It became nighttime. Maggie wanted to know more about Tatanga and wanted to see him. The alien just moved in with his butler and they both slept on a sofa. They were short enough to share it with each other.

"So, where do you come from?" Maggie asked.

"I don't remember clearly. It must've been…" Tatanga began.

"We come from the 21st galaxy in Sector 89, master." Katsini answered.

"Wow, with those numbers, you must've travelled a lot." Maggie commented.

"It took us a hundred and fourty-seven thousand lightyears to get here." Katsini added.

"I see. Goodnight then."

Maggie returned to Rio's room where she slept on the couch once again.

"Someday… Gami… I'll find you…" She whispered while sleeping.


	11. Chapter Orange 1

**ORANGE CHAPTERS: ALL ABOARD THE LOVE TRAIN**

 **Chapter Orange 1: Tangerine Resort**

Maggie was still sleeping on the couch while Rio just woke up. The latter went to see the swan and cuddled her. This startled Maggie as she flew upward to the ceiling almost hitting it.

"Ahh! I'm terribly sorry, Maggie. I didn't mean to startle you." Rio said.

"It's alright. I was dreaming so I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings." Maggie replied as she floated down, back on the couch.

"What were you dreaming of?"

"I was dreaming that I'd find back a friend I didn't see a long time ago."

Someone knocked on the door. They both went to answer it. This time, there were three people at the door: Luigi, Daisy and Misses Roseworth.

"Good morning! Are you all ready to go?" Maggie asked.

"Actually, we have important business to attend and we won't be able to go with you in the next few days." Daisy brought up.

"Oh… In that case, see you next time."

They said goodbye to each other and went their own way. Maggie was sad to lose more and more friends for her quest to save Lord Igami. She went to the other room with Rio. Only Mario and Tatanga were with them. Katsini, on the other hand, stayed at the hotel. The small group left the hotel and took the go-kart since they were not enough people for the minvan.

"So, where are we headed to?" Tatanga asked.

"I don't know. Let's try the Oranga Region. I heard a lot of good things about their spa and I think I really need it." Maggie said.

"Are you alright, Maggie?" Rio asked.

"I'm just tired of this. I don't think anything will make me smile again when friends leave for more "important" matters. Is saving the world not important enough for them?"

"Yes but you have to prepare for tomorrow, once we save the world."

"I guess. Let's just go. I'm tired of staying here."

Mario drove toward the Orange Region. They went on the highway but, because of their vehicle, they could not go as fast as with the minivan due to regulation. They eventually reached Tangerine Resort and were surprised to see the giant crowd at the door of the place. There were only females in the crowd and they tried to bust their way inside. The group left the go-kart and went to see the crowd.

"What's this about?" Rio asked.

One of the females near them looked at them with a dumbfounded look on her face.

"Haven't you heard? THE Zombie Heartbreaker is in town! But his big mean agent is preventing us to see him!" The female screamed.

"Who?" Tatanga asked.

"The flirtiest, most seductive person alive, you have to see him from your own eyes!"

"Wait! I thought he was just a videogame character." Maggie pointed out.

"Have you been living under a rock for all your life!? He's real, even realer than that Princess Ori or Prince Gami!"

Maggie seemed irritated by the last remark the female made. She looked back at her friends.

"We need him in our group." Maggie declared.

"Maggie, I doubt this person would join us. Plus, he must just be an actor. What can an actor do to help us when the only thing he knows is to pretend to be strong?" Tatanga brought up.

"I don't care. WE. NEED. HIM."

"Alright but don't regret this decision."

The group took a look around the resort to find another way in. They found an open window that was too high to reach. Thankfully, Maggie could change shape and size and used her power to unfold, grow and fold back into an elephant. She grabbed her friends and fit them inside the window. Once inside the resort, they found themselves in the kitchen. On the other side, there was a double door. It opened and a big green chameleon in a black suit and wearing shades entered the room. It was exhausted and caught its breath.

"Phew… Those girls. Good thing this place has an emergency lockdown." The chameleon panted.

He looked up in front of him and saw the group. He gasped and went to see them. He was not pleased at all to see anyone else inside the resort.

"Hey! What are you four doing in here!? This place is off limit to anyone but me and my client!" The chameleon shouted.

The group did not have much of an idea to say to him but Rio seemed somewhat confident. He first approached the chameleon.

"We're the cooks. We just arrived for our daily shift and have to enter through the window because the front door was crowded." He then lied to the chameleon.

The rest of the group looked at him as if he messed up. The chameleon sighed in relief.

"Finally, my client is getting hungry and he wants something to eat now. Come on! Get to work!" The chameleon pressured.

"But what would he like to eat?" Maggie asked.

"Something edible! Stop wasting time and get to work NOW!"

The chameleon immediately left the kitchen and slammed the door behind. Everyone was disoriented following that small event.

"Great, now we have to cook for a pretender." Tatanga complained.

"Shut up! The Zombie Heartbreaker is not a pretender!" Maggie said back.

"Everyone! We need to settle down and think about something this person would like to eat. We can argue later but, right now, we're in deep trouble." Rio intervened.

"Let's make a steak." Tatanga proposed.

"But what if he doesn't like meat?" Maggie brought up.

"I don't care. Better something than nothing."

"I bet two coins he's a vegan."

"Stop it! We'll make a steak and accompany with something, alright? Now, about that." Rio intervened once again.

"We can make mashed potatoes." Maggie proposed at her turn.

"Great! We can then accompany both with peas."

Everyone went at their post. Mario first used a hammer to flatten the steak and seasoned it with salt, pepper and some lemon juice. Then, Maggie and Rio made the mashed potatoes and added some fresh herbs in it. Tatanga did not have much to do with the peas. All he had to do was to cook them then drain them. When everything was ready, the group gathered together to make a presentable dish. Everything was carefully put on a round plate and the meal was ready to go. The chameleon quickly came back in the kitchen by ramming into the doors.

"What's taking you guys so long!? If you were working for me, you'd all already be fired minutes ago!" The chameleon ranted.

Maggie lifted up the dish and presented it to the chameleon. The latter examined it in detail.

"I'll allow it! You could've made something much finer than this but I'll allow it!" The chameleon declared.

The group followed the chameleon outside the kitchen to a double door.

"Here's how it'll go: The waiter enters the room ALONE, gives the meal to my client and comes back here. If my client doesn't like your dish, I want each of you to write me a five thousand word essay to apologize to my client! If you waste too much time in here, I'll come in personally and drag you back here! Are we all clear with this!?" The chameleon explained.

Everyone nodded.

"Good! Now who will deliver the meal to my client?" The chameleon added.

Everyone looked at Maggie who was already holding the plate.

"Me!? Okay I guess…" She stuttered.

The chameleon opened the door to Maggie but only wide enough to let her in, not let anyone see the Zombie Heartbreaker. He then closed the door behind her almost shoving her. He stood in the way afterwards.

"This guy's gonna drive me nuts." Tatanga whispered to Rio

"Don't worry. This should be the only thing we'll have to do for him." Rio whispered back.

"I hope so because…"

"Hey! What are you two talking about!?" The chameleon intervened.

"Our vacations!" Both Tatanga and Rio awkwardly said.

"It better be."

They heard a scream that came from the room. The chameleon moved out the way and Maggie left the room and immediately closed the door behind. She was exhausted and crying.

"Oh please! Did he deny you an autograph?" The chameleon teased.

The swan jumped at the chameleon to hug him.

"It's terrible! Dry bones found their way inside the resort and ate him alive! Now they're onto us!" Maggie sobbed in the chameleon's arms.

"WHAT!? I have to check for myself!" The chameleon said.

Just as he said this, something banged on the door. They even heard screeches. The chameleon became too scared and ran away screaming in terror. He went through the entrance door leaving a big hole shaped like him. The group went to see outside. The chameleon was running through the crowd yelling dry bone. This scared the crowd as it quickly dispersed in all directions. There was no one left at the Tangerine Resort but the group.

"So much to meet an actor. Guess it's time to leave." Tatanga said.

Maggie giggled. Everyone looked at her.

"Maggie, what was that about?" Rio asked.

"I can't believe they all bought into this. Now, I have the Zombie Heartbreaker all for myself. Come on, guys! We have someone to invite in our party!" The swan confessed.

Everyone followed Maggie to the other room. They ran to the middle of it and Maggie looked around. She seemed worried. Something must have gone wrong in her plan. She became angry.

"I can't believe he tricked me like that!" Maggie yelled.

She landed on the ground, desperate, and closed her eyes.

"Oh! How could I be fooled so easily? What took me to believe his every word?" She lamented.

She felt something like a finger scrubbing under her beak. She loved the feeling.

"I could never forget that look on his face. He looked so cool and adorable." She said.

"I know. I'm good-looking." A new voice spoke.

She did not pay attention to the new voice.

"And those hairs, they felt so soft yet stood tall on his head. I'm sure even the winds couldn't ruin his hairs." Maggie complimented.

"I know. I love my hairs clean and straight." The new voice spoke.

"But what caught me the most was his voice. So flirty, so seductive, it's impossible to think otherwise. Only a monster could never be charmed by such voice."

"I know…"

Maggie heard her friends chuckling. She looked at them. They were all holding themselves to not laugh. Tatanga could no longer hold it and let out a chuckle.

"What are you laughing at!?" She screamed at them.

Tatanga just pointed her. Was her misery funny for them? She kept feeling the finger under her beak and decided to have a look. It was a yellow-orange scaly finger with a claw at the end. She slowly followed the finger and found himself in front of a weird koopa. Though it had some resemblances with Bowser Jr, this one was older. It had a slightly dark cream feline mouth with a fang coming out of each end of it and two blue oval eyes rested on the mouth. On top of its green head, sky blue hairs stood tall and went backward much like a Mohawk. A blue star tattoo could also be noticed on the left side of its head albeit barely. Its overall look made him look like a punk. It was wearing spiked bracers on its wrists. It gave a flirty smile at Maggie.

"Hey there…" It whispered.

"Larry-senpai!?" Maggie stuttered.

She immediately floated back up to the height of Larry's face.

"So, what brings you here?" Larry asked.

"I…" Maggie began.

However, she could not say anything at the moment. She was too happy.

"We're here for various reasons and…" Rio tried to answer for her until…

"I can answer myself, Rio!" Maggie cut.

She took back her breath and looked back at Larry.

"Well, first of, we're here for the Orange Origami Star and we need people to help us get it." Maggie finally explained.

"An Origami Star, eh? I might help you with that but at one condition." Larry said back.

"Let's hope it's not something absurd like another steak." Tatanga said.

"So, what's that condition?" Rio asked.

"Seduce me." Larry openly said.

"You can't be serious!" Tatanga objected.

"But I don't want any random person to do so."

Larry then looked back at Maggie. The latter became more and more nervous.

"You want me to seduce you, Larry-senpai?" She stuttered.

The punk nodded. Maggie looked at her friends who just shrugged it off. She then looked back at Larry and was about to say something but the koopa put a finger on her beak.

"The trick for a successful seduction is confidence. If you cannot show it, how can anyone tell you're sincere?" Larry advised.

Maggie took deep breath and stared at her idol for a moment. She took the time to analyse him and every detail she could see.

"You know. I've never gotten into the punk look much because of how unappealing it looks to me but the way you display it makes me want to try it out." She said.

This seemed to have worked as Larry slightly blushed.

"Thank you. I have another friend that has the punk look and I'm sure you'll love him more than me." The koopa said.

"Alright, you flirted with him! Can we move on now!?" The alien impatiently asked.

"How about you try it on your friend here?" Larry proposed.

"Don't even think about it!"

Maggie looked back at her friends and approached the bat boy.

"Most women prefer a big man to protect them from any danger they face." Maggie began.

"Stop it!" Tatanga warned, feeling more and more uncomfortable.

"But, if I was a humanoid like everyone else, I'd want someone like you because… It's not the size that matters. It's how you handle it."

Tatanga instantly blushed.

"Well, I…" The alien began.

"Plus, you'd be my favorite source of comfort, one that could understand my problems and even help me with them." Maggie continued.

"Please stop. I can only take that much."

Maggie wanted to continue but Larry put a hand on her wing.

"Never go too far. I can be unhealthy for the person you try to seduce." He hinted.

"Well, now that we finally seduced you, welcome aboard, Larry. That's your name, right?" Rio greeted.

"Um, before we speak of our mission further, I'd like you to sign me an autograph please, Larry-senpai." Maggie brought up.

She then searched in her bag and pulled out a game copy she lent to Larry. The punk already had a pen so he was ready to sign.

"To whom I dedicate this autograph?" He asked.

Maggie was about to answer but everyone heard heavy breathing. They looked around and saw the chameleon from earlier right next to Larry heavily breathing of obsession.

"It's alright. They're not bothering me." Larry said.

The chameleon became instantly infuriated.

"NO! They are! He is mine!" The chameleon declared.

"He's not an object! Give him some space for once!" Maggie replied.

"Why would I listen to a little ducky like you!? Don't make me laugh!"

"I'm a princess! Show me respect!"

"A princess? You?"

The chameleon burst out of laugher. Maggie became so angry she tackled him to the face. Everyone was shocked to see her blow out a fuse like that. The chameleon was even more surprised than anyone but he grinned.

"You expected me to be his agent!? But it was me!" The chameleon suddenly said.

He then threw his shades on the floor. This proved to be a mistake as the chameleon blinked many times and kneeled down trying to find them back.

"Oh shoot, I should've pulled out my other glasses before." He said.

Maggie took the shades and gave them back to the chameleon.

"Thank you." The chameleon said as he put his shades back on his eyes.

He stood back up, a little embarrassed.

"Let's try this again. You thought I was his agent!? But it was me!" He said again.

This time, he torn apart his suit revealing he was wearing a yellow shirt with starmen and mushroom on it and Larry's name signed all over it. He then switched his shades for a pair of square glasses with spiral patterns in them.

"FRANCIS!" The chameleon shouted.

Larry then facepalmed and sighed.

"Larry, do you know this person?" Rio asked.

"Not him again. He's the most obsessed fanboy you'll ever meet." Larry complained.

"Yes I am! And since I have competition I shall get rid of it! Prepare to fight!" Francis engaged.

A battle then begun. It was Mario and Tatanga against Francis but Larry joined Mario's side this time.

"What!? I'll fight against Larry-senpai!?" Francis said while blushing.

Tatanga began the fight with one of his unique cards. He summoned a small device he put right in front of the group. Mario looked in his card and pulled out a hammer card and went to the chameleon. Francis predicted it and took a card from his hand and pulled out a distinct shield.

"You think you can hit me with that!? Think again! Captain Amarioca's shield will protect me from your hit!" Francis boasted.

Unfortunately, this proved to work as He blocked Mario's hammer strike. Mario just shrugged it off and went back to his post. It was now Larry's turn. Though he had many cards in his hands, he used a standard stomp card and went to Francis. The chameleon pulled another card and a spiked helm appeared on his head.

"Ha ah! This helmet from Super Goomba will protect me of your pathetic attack!" Francis yelled.

"That's cute but…" Larry began.

The punk then pulled another card from his hand.

"I can feint." He added.

"Feint!?" Francis asked.

Larry unleashed a flying kick on Francis. Since the chameleon was caught off-guard, there was no way he could block this attack. Plus, a feint attack automatically landed a lucky hit to maximize damage. Though he could have been angry of being played, Francis was in fact overjoyed.

"I can't believe Larry-senpai is beating me!" He rejoiced.

"I don't hear you complain, princess!" Rio brought up, reminiscent of when she complained about Tatanga having a special ability.

"Me? Well, if it works, it works." Maggie simply said.

It was now Francis' turn. He pulled out a sword card and wielded the sword in his hand.

"With Samurai Goroh's sword, I shall vanquish you!" He screamed.

He then unleashed a war cry but it did not sound like the others would expect. Francis then charged at the group but did not notice the strange device right between everyone. Upon stepping on it, it blew up and the chameleon grabbed after his injured foot while jumping around.

"Ouch! It hurts like a truck!" He complained.

Because of that, he lost his turn and had to go back to his spot. Another turn went where Mario and friends attacked Francis. This time, the latter did not have anything to block their attacks. It was Francis' turn again.

"That's it! Desperate times call for desperate measures! ORIGAMI CHAMELEON POWER!" Francis shouted.

He made some strange moves and ended up with a dab. Mario and friends were confused but the origamis were afraid. The white border around Francis grew in size to form a giant sheet of paper and folded many times. As it happened, a strong light blinded everyone and, when it vanished, Francis now became an origami. Tatanga tried to fight him with one of his special futuristic weapons but could no longer dent Francis on any way. Mario went for a Power Bouce but none of the stomp could damage Francis. Larry, not having any attack card this turn, went for a standard attack, a fire ball, which he spat at the chameleon. Nothing worked. Francis slapped Mario and Tatanga with his giant hands. He dealt massive damage and Both the plumber and the alien fell down exhausted.

"I'm done. This game is so unfair." The bat boy lamented.

Only Larry was standing. Maggie went right behind him to see if there was a useful card that could win the fight. Maggie could not see anything of use in Larry's hand but the latter seemed to have an idea but, judging by the look on his face, he did not appreciate it. Larry pulled a card depicting a heart on it and slowly approached Francis.

"Give up now, Larry-senpai! I HAVE THE POWER!" Francis loudly boasted.

Though Francis played another shield card, Larry had no plan to land any attack. He just gave the chameleon a flirty smirk.

"What are you doing, Larry-senpai?" Francis stuttered.

Francis began shaking like a leaf. He was not sure what Larry would do to him. Maybe the punk had an ultimate secret attack he would use on Francis.

"Such dedication, such passion, no other fan would travel across the seven seas just to meet me a thousand times." Larry flirted.

Francis began heavily breathing again but the pacing was much faster. It seemed so intense that everyone could hear his heartbeat. The chameleon let out a little scream of joy and was instantly knocked out. He fell on the side and reverted to his paper form.

"After all those years… Larry-senpai finally seduced me…" He whispered.

Now that the battle was over, the others stood back up.

"I can't believe it worked." Tatanga let out.

"Now that Francis is out of the way, I can finally sign your game copy. So, to whom I dedicate this signature?" Larry brought back up.

Maggie looked at everyone. She looked away for a moment and looked back at Rio.

"Maggie? What's wrong? Wasn't this one of the things you wanted today?" Rio reminded.

"Yes but… I'm not Maggie. I never was Maggie. My real name is… Princess Ori. I have enough to hide from everyone." The swan confessed.

It let out a shock among Mario and friends. Rio was not only glad he found Princess Ori but…

"I'm surprised you didn't recognize me in the first place." He brought up.

"What do you mean?" Ori asked.

It then came to her mind. She immediately hugged the paper plane and began crying.

"Gami! After all those years, I found you again! Why did you leave me?" She sobbed.

"I'm sorry if I made you sad, Ori, but I had to. I couldn't find the answers I sought in the Silver Palace and had to travel around the world in hope I would finally find them." Gami whispered.

They let go each other and Ori looked back at Larry.

"Alright then… To the lovely Princess Ori… Larry Koopa." He said as he signed Ori's game copy and gave it back to the swan.

"Thank you, Larry. Now, let's get out of here. We lost enough time because of Francis." Ori concluded.

"Before we go, I have something important to say: I work for Bowser."

The origamis were completely baffled. This however gave an idea to Ori.

"Well, now that you mention it, I'd like you to take a look at this letter Bowser wrote." Ori brought up as she gave the letter to Larry.

The punk did not even have to read it. He straightly looked back at her.

"That's not Bowser." He concluded.

"You didn't even read it!" Gami pointed out.

"I don't need to. First, Bowser always writes on a special paper made from trees that only grow in his kingdom."

Larry then pulled out another letter he hand and showed the paper to the group. It was folded and also had a waxed seal on it. It was a letter destined to Mario to tell him to come over to his castle to see Peach.

"Second, you can notice he writes in a careful and sophisticated way. Plus, he always writes his letters to Mario as an invitation rather than a ransom. And third…" He continued.

He pulled out a small phone and opened an application. The phone displayed a giant koopa lying down in a bed with a thermometer in his mouth and a hot water bottle on his head. He seemed very sick and tired.

"Kamek, I don't want to talk to anyone today. I don't feel like it." The koopa lamented.

"But your highness, this is a call from Larry." A voice in the screen spoke.

"Larry?"

The giant looked at the screen.

"Oh hi Larry! Have you found any news on my kid?" He asked.

"Not yet but I wanted to tell you I'm with Mario." Larry responded as he tilted the phone so the giant koopa could see Mario.

"Oh hi Mario! How's it going? Lucky you, you didn't feel sick before the big event. Shame I wasn't even here. I hate it when someone pretends to be me to have the princess to him."

"So, you're Bowser?" Ori asked.

"Yes, the koopa in person, but I'm not at my best right now as you may have noticed."

"Speaking of your son, is his name Bowser Jr?"

"That's right!"

"We saw the little brat back in Miitropolis days ago."

"Ah yes, he loves to act like his old man. Well, I wish I could speak with you a little longer but I have to go. Bye!"

The phone went black.

"That does confirm the prince travelled to the Rainbow Continent." Larry concluded.

"But what is he doing here on his own? Children don't usually travel alone." Gami brought up.

"We heard of an herb that could cure whatever Bowser has since no conventional medicine works."

"But surely some people could have gone with him. Isn't it dangerous for a child like him to travel alone like that?"

"The prince has proven to be quite the fighter at the point he made it into Super Smash Bros. We do have a line of royal bodyguards but I ordered them to protect the king until he recovers. Who knows what may happen in his state."

"You ordered?"

"Yes, I'm the captain of his royal guard."

"Since Bowser isn't the one who did all of this, who else could it be?" Ori brought up.

"Here are Bowser's enemies but not limited to: Smithy, Cackletta, the shroob princesses, Sir Grodius and Dimentio."

"So, among the people you mentioned, who would write a clumsy letter to impersonate him then destroy the Mushroom Castle and take away the princess?"

"I suspect Lord Crump, who works for Sir Grodius, to have written the letter and Sir Grodius to have destroyed the castle."

"Now that's settled, can we just go?" Tatanga interrupted.

"Alright but we need to know where the Orange Origami Star is." Ori pointed out.

"The Orange Origami Star is on Mount Peach. It's protected by the Orange Guardian. We can reach it with the Neo Sunset Express but we need to convince an operator to drive to the mountain. I heard they no longer do it due to the guardian going berserk in the mountain's surroundings." Gami brought up.

Everyone nodded at him and they left the resort.


	12. Chapter Orange 2

**Chapter Orange 2: The Neo Sunset Express**

Before going to the train station, Mario had to first return the go-kart to Miitropolis then take back the minivan. Afterwards, he returned to the resort to pick up his friends and they headed to the train station. Once there, there were many people of many kinds that came from and went into the station. Some people waited in line to get tickets. It took the group a few minutes before they could get to a ticket booth. A mii was standing at the booth and waved at them to signal them they could come over.

"Good afternoon! Where do you want to go?" The mii asked.

"We'd like to travel to Mount Peach please." Gami brought up.

"Unfortunately, this destination is currently closed to the public. Every time we try to get there, an orange train keeps rolling next to us and bombards us with all sorts of explosives. We can't risk the passengers' safety."

"We're Princess Ori and Prince Gami from and Silver Palace. We're here to investigate about the train you're mentioning." Ori said.

"You two are!? Thank goodness, you have returned. In that case, I'll prepare you the Neo Sunset Express to reach Mount Peach as soon as possible. You have no idea how reassuring it is to see you two back again." The mii said.

The mii printed a ticket for each member of the group. Everyone pulled out coins from their pockets and exchanged them for the tickets. Since Ori and Gami were royalty, they did not have to pay for theirs.

"Your train will be at Dock 9 and 3/4. It's a secret dock between Dock 9 and Dock 10. To get there, push the differently colored brick on the brick column then pull it back shortly after. The floor should open up to let you get to Dock 9 and 3/4. If you take too long to pull the brick back, try again. Good day to you." The mii explained.

The group passed the ticket booth and arrived at the docks. Trains were arriving or leaving. People were getting or out. The group carried on until they found themselves between Dock 9 and Dock 10. They saw the brick column the mii was telling them about. All the bricks were colored orange save for one that was darker than the other. They gathered around the façade with the dark brick.

"So, once we push it in, how do we pull it back out?" Tatanga asked.

Larry pulled out a magic wand. He first pressed the brick inside the column and casted a spell on it to pull it back. The floor opened up revealing a set of stairs going down.

"Cool! I didn't know you could use magic." Ori complimented.

"When you have a teacher like Kamek, you better be good or drop out the class entirely." Larry joked.

The group went down and stairs and found another dock underground. The train there looked much different from anything they saw above. While the other trains looked like standard electric trains, this one was one of those trains that could go above 500 kilometers per hour. The name Neo Sunset Express was written on the side of one of the front wagon. A mii conductor was awaiting their arrival near his wagon at the very end.

"Good afternoon, Princess Ori and Prince Gami. Are we ready to go?" The conductor asked.

Everyone nodded. They all then climbed aboard the Neo Sunset Express and took seat.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Sunset Express, the future of railroad transportation. We would like to please ask you to remain seated while we start up the train. Once the train will be at constant speed, you may leave your seat and explore what the Neo Sunset express has to offer to our passengers. The crew wishes you a good travelling." A voice through a speaker announced.

The train began moving. It went faster and faster. It left the train station and the group could see outside once again. They went through barren plains and canyons. Eventually, Ori becae tired of being seated and went exploring. Larry also left his seat to see what was in the Neo Sunset express. Only Mario, Tatanga and Gami remained at their seat.

"How is this that Francis could turn into an origami?" Tatanga brought up.

"He must have been chosen by Lord Igami or some origamis for an experiment. Usually, such power never falls in the hands of paper characters like you two and for good reasons. On a paper character, the power can be unstable at the point it can cause the paper character to be stuck as an origami permanently by example. Plus, it drains do much energy in little time which is why it's only experienced on the biggest paper characters they could find." Gami explained.

"Okay but how did he meet them? You don't see many origamis around."

"Origamis work in complete secrecy. There was once where they directly met people to give them origami powers but, with the many failures and complaints they received from the paper people, they chose to drop the project publicly and select a few people to carry on with the experiment without the guinea pig's awareness."

"So Francis could've been selected without him knowing? How did he use such power so easily?"

"I suppose it must've been years since he got this power and must've practiced a few times with it to make he could pop it out when he wanted to and not by accident or not popping out when he really needed it to."

"And what's that grey substance you mentioned earlier?"

"No one knows where it came from. Many would accuse Lord Igami to have created it since they're both the same color but no one managed to prove it because he's unreachable without the nine Origami Stars."

"Okay, this guy's your father. At some point, you must've seen him doing shady things."

"I left the Silver Palace many years ago so I did not have time to notice it. Before that, he was the kind ruler of the Rainbow Continent but, as the years passed, he was becoming emptier by the day I and could not find out why. Worse, he didn't even mind. Perhaps in my absence he made the grey substance but I have to return here to confirm it."

A mii showed up at the doorframe of their cabin. He was dressed like a waiter and was holding a small book with a pencil. He was ready to write anything in the book.

"Good afternoon, passengers! Would you like something to eat on your way to Mount Peach?" The mii asked.

"No thanks. I'll be fine." Gami replied.

"Me neither. I bet it's just plane food anyway." Tatanga let out.

Mario just shook his head to decline.

"In that case, if you ever need anything, you can either ring the bell right here or go to the front where you'll find the restaurant wagon. Enjoy your stay." The waiter concluded before leaving.

"A restaurant wagon? In that case, I'll go check it out. What about, guys?" The alien proposed.

The others followed him. The train was practically empty. No one else took it save for the group. No one was foolish enough to risk their lives just to reach Mount Peach when another train would ambush them. The small group made their way to the front. They entered another wagon where they found back Ori and Larry. The swan was painting the punk while the latter was lying sideway facing her.

"You already had an autograph, Ori. Don't you think you're asking for too much?" Gami asked.

"He's the one who asked me to paint him like a Europi'illian so I obliged." Ori answered.

The small group carried on to the front. They finally reached the restaurant wagon. It was not a fast-food in a wagon like the small group would have expected. It was in fact a big restaurant with an actual kitchen and many round tables and four chairs at each table, the whole being nicely decorated. The small group took seat at one of the tables and a mii went to see them. They all ordered and ate after having to wait thirty minutes. After all, they were the only passengers on the train so they did not have to wait too long. Then, an alarm sounded.

"Dear passengers. An unusual event is happening outside the train and is nearing it. Please remain calm and return to your cabins. We may have to return to the train station if it becomes too dangerous to proceed. We are terribly sorry in advance for this inconvenience and will offer a refund to unsatisfied customers." The voice from the speaker announced.

"That must be the Orange Guardian. We must go back to the others." Gami declared.

Just as they said that, Ori and Larry just entered the restaurant wagon and joined them back.

"Did you heard that, Gami?" Ori asked.

"Yes! We need to see the conductor." The paper plane replied.

The group went further to the front and arrived in the last wagon. The conductor was currently worried of the situation.

"Conductor, we need to get on the rooftops! We can fight the train." Gami said.

"Well, if you insist, wear those boots. They will anchor you on the rooftops so you won't fly away due to the strong winds." The conductor advised as he opened a locker full of boots."

Those who could wear boots wore them. As for Ori and Gami, the conductor gave harnesses to Mario and Larry to strap the origamis on them. The group was now ready to fight the Orange Guardian. The conductor opened a hatch on the ceiling and the group climbed it up. They found themselves on the rooftop of the main wagon. They saw tree giant orange sheets of paper glider over another railroad right next the Neo Sunset Express. The sheets began folding and turned into a heavily armed military train with three wagons that rolled on the railroad. The first wagon on the back had a triple cannon at the very back, two single cannons on the top and another one on the side façade. All the cannons on that wagon aimed at the group.

"That's a lot of cannons!" Gami commented.

"Pfah! You think that's a lot?" Tatanga replied.

The alien began his turn with a Laser Gun card and used a Triple Shot Attack card. He fired three energy projectiles that hit the three cannons on the rooftop. Mario used an Ice Flower card and aimed the five ice missiles at the triple cannon. Larry equipped a tennis racket with a card. For his attack, he did not use another card but was able to spit a fire ball in the air and swung it with his racket into one of the two single cannons.

"You can do that, Larry?" Ori asked, impressed.

"The fire ball is my standard attack. I just made a Tag Attack with it and my racket but it's not as strong as a traditional Tag Attack." The punk replied.

The triple cannon aimed at Mario who used a Raccoon Tail card to prepare himself. The cannon fire three cannonballs in a row and Mario had to deflect the two first ones elsewhere to deflect the last one back at the cannon. The last cannonball was enough to wreck the triple cannon to beyond operational. The two single cannons aimed at Larry who swung their projectiles back at the senders. One of the two single cannons got destroyed for taking too much damage. The wall cannon did not aim at anyone but fired a laser it swung like a blade into the group. Having caught everyone off-guard, the wall cannon did full damage to the group. Since it did full damage, Mario lost his Ice Flower power. Tatanga reacted afterward with a Power Shot Attack card he aimed at the wall cannon to destroy it. Mario had no useful card this turn and decided to pull out an Item card that healed the party. Larry finished the last single cannon with another unique Tag Attack. The first wagon was stripped of all his weapons. The group then heard a loud clang and noticed the first wagon was slowing down. IT in fact got detached from the rest of the Orange Guardian and was now leaving away. The rest of the guardian was now rolling faster.

"I'll increase the speed of the train to catch it up! Keep it up!" The conductor's voice spoke through a speaker.

The Neo Sunset Express managed to catch up with the Orange Guardian. The second wagon of the guardian was differently armed. A missile launcher was on the rear, A bridge was built in the middle with two orange origamis ready to throw bob-bombs at the group and a big cannon was in the front. Since the first wagon counted as an individual battle, it was the group's turn again. The alien pulled out a Photon Mortar card and aimed at the bridge. The photon projectile the mortar fired blew up the two origamis on the bridge leaving it weak to subsequent attacks. Mario pulled out a Fire Flower card and aimed the five fire balls at the missile launcher. Larry got rid of his racket this turn and pulled out a Magic Wand card. He then used a Dual Flame card and fired two light blue fire bolts at the missile launcher. It was now the wagon's turn. The missile launcher fire a missile at the group but Larry used a Smokescreen card thanks to him having equipped a magic wand the previous turn to disorient the missile causing it to miss its targets. Two more origamis came on the bridge and made preparations to attack on the next turn. The giant cannon did nothing but an orb of light began forming at the tip of it.

"Look out! The big cannon's gonna fire a deadly something at us!" Ori warned.

"We have to find a way to interrupt it!" Gami advised.

Tatanga fired the photon mortar at the giant cannon but it was not enough to interrupt it. Mario used a hammer card and a Hammer Throw card to throw it at the giant cannon. The orb of light on the cannon blew up and damaged the cannon even further to the point of destroying it. Larry focused on the missile launcher and finished it with his magic wand. Since the bridge was left alone this turn, the origamis on it threw bob-ombs at the group. Everyone took full damage but, on the next turn, the group destroyed the bridge. The second wagon detached itself from the tank engine and slowly left away. Only the tank engine was remained and was not armed like the other wagons.

"We did it! He can't do anything to us anymore!" Ori celebrated.

"Wait! Something's not right!" Gami pointed out.

The Orange Guardian unfolded and folded back into a robot on a wheeled platform. With its arm, it grabbed after the front wheels and put all its strength to move faster.

"I can't catch it up! You'll have to think of something else! We're nearly here!" The conductor's voice shouted.

Without thinking, Ori and Gami pulled Mario and Larry and put them on the small platform the robot was standing on. The robot then reached for a lever between the railroads and switched it. The Neo Sunset Express was forced to drive away from them. Mario could finally use his stomp cards again and used this opportunity to use a Spring Bounce card to stomp on the Orange Guardian ten times. Larry could also use some of his card he could not earlier and used a flying kick card to attack the guardian. The Orange Guardian extended an arm and was about to attack until it hit something outside the railroad. Ori took a quick look and noticed it was another lever. The robot also seemed surprised to have hit it. The wagon went toward another direction. Gami looked at the front and saw a cliff.

"We're about to fall off a cliff!" Gami yelled.

The Orange Guardian grabbed after his front wheels once again but firmly. Sparks came out of the friction between the arms and the wheels. A loud high-pitched whistling could be heard. Though it managed to slow down, it was not enough to stop before the cliff. Ori and Gami pulled back their friends and put them on the railroad right before the guardian fell down the cliff. They all watched as the guardian fell until it collided with the ground thus exploding.

"Ouch! That's gonna leave a mark." Larry commented.

"We need to get down here." Ori said as she changed shape.

She used her origami powers to turn into a giant butterfly and carried everyone on her. She slowly flew down to the bottom of the cliff until they reached the spot where the orange guardian exploded. They saw in place a small unconscious train origami. Everyone got off Ori's back and she shifted back into a swan. They all gathered around the train origami who was slowly waking up.

"Where am I…" The train whispered.

"Don't worry. You'll be fine." Gami replied.

"Prince Gami! Princess Ori!"

"Yes, we returned." Ori said.

"It's been a long time. I thought you were gone. You have no idea how overjoyed the others will be when I'll tell them about your return." The guardian commented.

"What happened to you? Why did you attack us?"

"Did I? I'm terribly sorry. The only thing I remember was that I was once wandering in the canyons near the Tangerine then I saw the river full of grey substance. Some origamis were pouring that stuff in the river. I tried to stop them but they grabbed me and put me inside the river. That's all I remember."

"I see. May we have your Origami Star?"

"But why? You two can return to the Silver Palace as many times as you want."

"We need them to get rid of the grey substance."

"You think that'll work? In that case, can any of you bring us back up?"

Ori used her powers to bring everyone back on the cliff. They went back on the railroad in the opposite direction where they caught up with the Neo Sunset Express that was awaiting their return. Afterwards, they left to Mount Peach where they retrieved the Orange Origami Star.

"By the way, I'm Granite, the Orange Guardian. Thanks for helping me and, once you get the others, give me a call and I'll be at the Silver Palace." The train origami said.

The group returned to the Tangerine Resort and decided to switch their rent from their rooms in that Miitropolis hotel for a lounge in the resort. There was much more luxury here and bigger bedrooms for everyone. They sent the message to their friends. Nighttime arrive. Ori went to check on Larry. She slowly opened the door and the first thing she saw was the empty shell. She immediately covered her eyes and closed the door.

"Eeek! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to see you naked!" She apologised.

"You can come in. I'm wearing clothes." Larry's voice said.

Ori slowly opened the door again and saw Larry sat at a mirror. He was combing his long hairs. The swan came to see him.

"You wanted to see me?" The punk asked.

"I just wanted to ask you something." Ori brought up.

"Shoot."

"What's it like to work for Bowser?"

"It can vary a lot but the bottom line was we get Princess Peach for him. Though, since the koopas made peace with the toads, I've been assigned to make sure Bowser's other enemies don't invade him."

"Why is he interested so much in Peach? Why not someone like me?"

"He's not looking for raw power if that's what you mean. He's instead looking for someone who will be a perfect mother for the prince."

"That little brat?"

"Yeah, Bowser used to be like him at his age. They both have been raised by Kamek in a way they believe they can take everything."

"Why can't Bowser raise his own son?"

"He does raise him but Kamek's influence means he'll just raise his son exactly like himself."

"I see. Thanks for answering."

"If you don't mind, I'd ask you to leave. I need to comb those hairs down so I can comb them back up easier tomorrow morning."

"I can help."

Larry lent the comb to Ori who proceeded to finish the job. She was a bit overjoyed to touch his hairs and sometimes went too close of rubbing her face in them. She managed to resist the temptation and successfully combed down all his hairs. She then left Larry's room and went to see her brother who was lying on a sofa.

"How long did you stay after I left?" Gami asked.

"It must've been a year." Ori replied.

"What happened at the Silver Palace this year?"

"The usual: father ignoring me, him growing bigger until he overgrown the throne room."

"So it has come to this. I wonder how big he is as of now."

"I don't know but I don't want to talk about it any further."

"I see. In that case, good night."

"Yeah, good night."

The two origamis shared the sofa and slept in their corner.


	13. Chapter Green 1

**GREEN CHAPTERS: SHATTERING MEMORIES**

 **Chapter Green 1: Reminiscence Clinic**

It was a new day today. Ori went to check on her friends. She found Tatanga being given a massage by his steward.

"You're getting massaged at this time of day?" She asked.

"Why not? I think I'll take a break of adventuring today and take it easy." The alien replied.

"Sure thing."

"Wait! Where's that sad attitude of yesterday morning?"

"Well, I'm just glad you'll be staying here unlike the others."

"It's because of Larry."

Not wanting to answer any further, Ori left Tatanga's room and went back to Gami who was ready. This time, Mario and Larry would be with them too.

"Alright. There's only one Origami Star to get before we can reach the Brown Region and it's the green one." Gami said.

Everyone nodded and went to the minivan. The group drove to the Green Region and stopped at its town Verdant Village. Before heading out further into the region, they explored the small village and stumbled across a place named Los Memoriam Café. The group entered the place and took a seat. A strange figure was behind the counter. It was a bizarre humanoid wearing a white top hat and coat. A small butterfly colored like a rainbow was also at the counter and left to see the group.

"Welcome to the Los Memoriam Café. Is it your first time?" The butterfly asked.

Everyone nodded at her.

"I'm Tippi and this person at the counter is Blumiere. We also have two other staff members, one of them in the kitchen and the other one…"

She did not have time to mention the other person when the lights in the café went down. The group looked around and saw spotlights aimed at a small stage. On it stood a giant plant that looked exactly like the one that appeared in Klaira's video tapes. IT was holding a microphone.

"Good morning, Verdant Village! I'm Petey Piranha, your humorist for this noon." The plant greeted.

"Ah yes! This is Petey. He usually cleans the floors and tables and uses his free time to tell jokes." Tippi said to the group.

"Alright! Have any of you worked in a garage?"

A few people raised their hand including Mario.

"It must be TIRING to work in such conditions, even EXHAUSTING!" The plant joked.

The customers had a good laugh at the puns. Petey then noticed the group.

"You know, I'm gonna try something entirely different today. I'm gonna ask someone in my audience to tell a joke. So, who wants this honor?" Petey brought up.

The customers remained quiet.

"I don't have any joke to tell right now." Ori whispered, a bit upset.

"I'm not too good at humor. I hope he doesn't pick me." Gami whispered.

Somehow, Petey could hear those whispers. He directly looked at the group.

"I hear someone from this table would like to volunteer!" He said while pointing the table with one of his giant leaves.

Gami became more and more anxious. Ori closed her eyes and tried to come up with a joke.

"You, the punk turtle, you look like a walking punchline! You have a joke to tell me? You don't need to come over to the stage. I can throw you the mike if you want to!" Petey said.

The two origamis sighed in relief. Larry climbed on the table and stood up on it. He raised a hadn in the air and Petey tossed the microphone at him. The koopa caught the microphone.

"First, tell us your name!" The plant shouted.

"Koopa, Larry Koopa." The punk spoke in the microphone.

"Alright, Larry Koopa! What do you have to say to entertain us today?"

The punk looked at the giant plant. He pointed at him and…

"Ceci n'est pas un PETEY PIRANHA." He said with his flirty voice.

The customers looked at Larry, unsure if it was a joke. Petey first blushed then burst out of laugher.

"That was brilliant! That must've been the best pun someone could make with my name! I love it! Thank you for attending my show and have a good meal!" The plant concluded.

The giant plant climbed down the stage and went to see the group.

"So, you're new around here? I haven't seen any of you before." Petey asked.

"Yes, we just arrived here. I'm Princess Ori and this is my brother, Prince Gami." Ori presented.

"Hello!" Gami just said.

"Royalties, eh? What do royalties do in such a small town?" The plant asked.

"We're here to recover the Green Origami Star and we're looking for some people to join us." Gami answered.

"You're on an adventure? Can I come with you please?"

"Sure but can you defend yourself?" Ori asked.

"Um, I think so. I have some weird cards I bought from some guy a year ago because I liked the drawings on the cards." Petey brought up as he pulled out a deck of cards from his swimsuit.

"Yep, that'll do. Let's go then."

The group, now with Petey, left the café. Before though, Petey had to tell his boss he would take the day off and this could extend to a week.

"I have someplace to go before we can leave town." Petey brought up.

"What kind of place?" Gami asked.

"I need to go to the Reminiscence Clinic for a monthly therapy I'm following."

The group headed to said clinic. There was no one inside though. The clinic was one huge room with many beds.

"I don't think your doctor is here." Ori commented.

"You have to lie down on a bed and close your eyes. That's how he treats his patients." Petey said.

"That's not how I imagined a therapist to work." Gami said.

Each member of the group took a bed. Petey closed his eyes and the others waited. It took quite a long time and everyone ended up falling asleep.

" _Wake up, Mario!" A familiar voice spoke._

 _Mario opened his eyes and saw Princess Peach. He stood up and realized he was back home when he looked around._

" _Are you ready for our first ceremony for you?" Peach asked._

 _Mario did remember that even. It happened after he saved the princess from Bowser for the first time but how could it happen again? Mario followed the princess to the entrance door. When he opened it, he was surprised to see a celestial background instead of the usual plains he used to see. He took one step in this celestial background and found a floor. He left his house and looked behind. Peach seemed frozen in time._

"Good afternoon, patient number 64." An artificial voice spoke.

Mario looked around, trying to find from where it came.

"Do not bother to look around. I am everywhere. My name is Doctor Reminiscence and welcome to my clinic. Your friends shall arrive soon." The voice said.

"Mario, over here!" Ori's voice spoke.

Mario looked toward the source and saw the origamis. He joined them back. Larry just arrived too but seemed somewhat worried.

"If you wish, you may see the memory of your friends." The voice spoke.

"No thanks, just do your daily therapy with Petey and we'll be going." Gami replied.

"Then why not leave him here?"

"He's with us. He'll be coming with us naturally."

"I am sorry. I am afraid I cannot let any of you do that."

"What are you talking about?" Ori asked.

"I have finally found the solution to his problem and I intend to perform it. No one shall prevent me to do so. After years of research, I have finally found a possible way to defeat amnesia once and for all."

"That's great but how long will it take?"

"Forever…"

"You can't be serious! There's no way we're giving up on him." Gami furiously replied.

"Strange. You just met patient number 3. Do you already consider him your friend?"

"He's coming with us, whether you like it or not!"

"In case, you'll be my guests forever…"

Celestial essence from the background gathered in one spot and materialized into Princess Peach.

"Forever…" She said.

The princess then pulled out a card and a frying pan appeared in her hand. She charged at Mario and hit him with the pan. Mario managed to block the attack but still received damage.

"What are you doing!? Are you out of your mind!?" Ori yelled.

"Forever…" The princess said once again.

"You're not leaving any choice then. We'll beat you!" Gami said.

The battle was on. Mario began his turn with a Mega Jump card and stomped on the fake Peach once. It did a lot of damage but it was not enough for anything to happen. Larry then used a Flying Kick card and approached the fake princess. The enemy pulled out a Toad Card in an attempt to protect herself from Larry's attack but the latter feinted with a Stomp card and jumped on her to land a lucky hit. Every time the group damaged the princess, the background distorted and the illusion blinked like a malfunctioning television. Larry's attack forced the celestial essence to reform itself and, this time, turned into a koopa that shared similar traits with the punk. The koopa however had big blue hairs with small round eyes and a single tooth coming out the mouth.

"Forever…" The fake koopa said.

Larry became angry to see this koopa. The fake koopa used a card to summon a magic wand and a Triple Flame card to hit the group. Since there were only two people in the group, Mario was hit twice. Mario reacted with a hammer card and a Quake Hammer card to unleash a shockwave. The shockwave caused the fake koopa to fall down on his shell. Larry then used a Stomp card to stomp on the koopa's belly. Being fallen down, the fake koopa could not use any Defense Card. The fake koopa then dissipated into celestial essence that materialized into a giant grey dragon origami with bright yellow eyes.

"Forever…" The dragon said.

Both Ori and Gami became angry to see the dragon. The dragon breathed fire at the group. Mario searched in his cards and pulled out a FLUDD card and extinguished the flames before they could reach him and Larry. It was now our heroes' turn. Mario used a Power Bounce and stomped on the dragon five times. Larry used a Magic Wand card and fired a magic missile at the dragon. Unlike the two other forms, it was not enough damage to beat it. The dragon approached the group and attacked Larry with a bite. Before though, the punk pulled out a Withdraw card and withdrew in his shell. This caused the dragon to bite the spiky shell and hurt him. Mario then searched through his cards and used a POW Block card to finish the dragon. The place instantly went black and the light came back. There were now two Larry's and none of them was among the group. The two Larry's saw each other and gasped. They looked at the group.

"I'm the real Larry!" One of them said.

"No! I'm the real Larry!" The other said.

The two Larry's sounded exactly identical. There was no obvious way to distinguish one from another.

"Okay, I'll ask one question only the real Larry knows the answer. Who is he looking for?" Ori asked.

"The prince, Bowser Jr!" One of the Larry's answered.

The other one was hesitating. Ori then went to the one who answered.

"I got you now!" She said.

"How!? I answered correctly!" The fake Larry pointed out with a different voice.

"That was a trick question. No one can answer that fast."

"Fine, you won. What do you want with me?"

"Please, let our friend Petey go."

"Again with that friend thing? You just met him. And I need him for my experimental treatment."

"Does he really have amnesia?"

"Indeed, not only him but the rest of the staff at the Los Memoriam Café too. I've been working for many years to try to find a cure for their amnesia but in vain. You were right to interrupt me or I could have degenerated even further. Patient number 3 does not seem to remember anything from his past."

"I think I have the answer."

"Is that so?"

There was a moment of silence. The fake Larry disappeared into celestial essence.

"Yes… That may be it. You have a proof of his past but… I will give you two choices: you tell him yourself or you let me." Doctor Reminiscence proposed.

"We'll tell him ourselves." Ori answered.

"Very well. Before you leave, I have a message for you koopa friend."

"What is it?" Larry asked.

"A small koopa asked me to deliver this if you ever happened to pass here. It was a few days ago." The celestial entity brought up.

Celestial essence took shape in front of the group and materialized into a rift showing an image of the prince.

"Hi! To Larry, since I know you'll be looking for me, I just reached this place and I found answers of where I could find the herb my daddy is looking for. I'm heading to the Grey Region to find it. I'll see you soon." The prince spoke.

The rift vanished. Larry was relieved to see the prince was fine. However, Doctor Reminiscence had something else to say.

"You seem to have tensions with a friend. I suggest you do something with this." The celestial entity brought up.

"That's none of your business!" Larry replied.

"Please, you must take convenient actions to solve those tensions. I fear further tensions may rupture the bond between you and him."

Larry ignored the voice.

"Well, I guess it's time for us to go. So, how do we leave this place?" Gami said.

The celestial background slowly turned into the clinic. The group looked around and found Petey still sleeping on the bed. They woke him up. The plant went berserk for a moment but calmed down when he found out it was his friends who woke him up.

"Sorry, I don't like being disturbed when I'm sleeping." Petey confessed.

"It's alright. Did your doctor finish his therapy?" Ori asked.

"Yes, we can now leave town. Where are we headed?"

"To the Mossy Swamps." Gami brought up.

The group left the clinic and headed out of town.


	14. Chapter Green 2

**Chapter Green 2: Mossy Swamps**

With how close the swamps were to the Verdant Village, the group went to it on foot. They saw the huge mass of trees in the horizon.

"That must be Mossy Swamps." Ori said.

"Yes it is. Don't be fooled by the tree. Those hide the swamps." Gami replied.

The group slowly entered the forest and were now presented to a landscape of small grassy terrains surrounded by dark grey muddy waters. The water kept bubbling.

"Eww! I don't want to swim in that." Ori said.

"They use mud in spas. Are you really gonna complain?" Petey joked.

"They don't make theirs with the first things they see!"

"Everyone, calm down. We need to find a way to navigate through the swamps." Gami interrupted.

"I know. I can fly." Petey brought up.

"You're not a bird, Petey. You're a plant!" Ori pointed out.

"I'm telling you. I can fly."

Petey approached the border of the small grassy terrain the group was standing on. He opened his leaves widly.

"Watch as he jumps into the water." Ori whispered to Gami.

Petey first jumped and flapped his leaves. He was hovering above the ground. Everyone was impressed.

"Okay but what about us?" Ori asked.

"He's big enough to carry all of us, Ori." Gami pointed out.

Everyone hopped on Petey's head and flew from one grassy spot to another one. At some point, he grew exhausted but it was at the wrong moment. They were flying above the muddy water, too far away from any grassy spot. Ori noticed they were lowering in altitude.

"What are you doing, Petey!? We're gonna sink!" She panicked.

"Huff, puff. So tired…" The giant plant panted.

He landed in the water and sank a little bit. The water level could only reach slightly above his swimsuit.

"We need to get to someplace safe quick. The biggest danger isn't the water. It's…" Gami began.

At the same time, green piranha origamis jumped out the water and bit Petey. Everyone on his head grew worrisome but the plant did not scream in pain. He instead laughed uncontrollably.

"Stop it! It tickles!" Petey begged.

The plant ran to a grassy spot but tripped on something in the water. The sheer momentum of his body propelled his friends on his head into the grassy spot while he fell into the water. The friends landed on the grassy spot and looked back at Petey who just stood back up with the front of his body completely covered in mud. Piranhas were still biting him.

"It's okay, guys! I'll get to you soon." He said as he wiped the mud off his face.

He reached the grassy spot his friends were standing on and the piranhas let him go to return in the mud.

"How is it that they did nothing to you?" Ori asked.

"I don't know. I must be too big for them." Petey joked.

"We should be close to the Green Origami Star. Stay alert. Its guardian can be anywhere." Gami said.

The group got back on Petey's head and the giant plant went back in the water. He slapped all the piranhas that dared bite him with his big leaf arms. They got in a spot of the forest where there was only mud and no grassy spot to be seen around. It was quite worrying that they were now in the middle of nowhere and with no way to call for help. Fortunately, no piranha swam in this part of the swamp. Petey kept walking in the middle of the swamp and stopped to take a look around.

"That's not good. What do we do?" Ori asked.

"I don't know. I'm not sure if the star is in the mud or elsewhere." Gami said.

Petey took back his course and suddenly sank deeper in the swamp. The water level almost reached his mouth. The others on his head gasped as they lost balance and almost fell in the water.

"That was too close." Ori stuttered, shook by the sudden sinking.

The giant plant kept walking in the mud but then stopped for no reason.

"What's wrong, Petey? Why did you stop?" Gami asked.

"I hit something with my foot. Could it be the star thingy you're looking for?" Petey asked back.

"Maybe. Try touching it more with your foot."

"Alright. Let's see… um… It's hard and… pointy in one… two… three… four… five places. It seems big too."

"That has to be it. Now comes the how to take it without submerging yourself."

"I can try something." Larry brought up.

The punk pulled out his wand and went on the front of Petey's head.

"Where's your thing at?" The koopa asked.

"Hold on. It's right around here." The plant answered as he emerged one of his leaves and pointed down somewhere in front of him.

Larry casted a spell with his wand in the spot where Petey pointed. He tried to pull his wand back up but he was struggling.

"Gee, how heavy is that thing?" He let out.

Mario helped him pull his wand back up but it was not enough. Petey emerged his leafy arms from the swamp and helped them. They managed to pull the wand back up and a big green star came out the muddy water.

"I can't believe it. What a silly place to hide something like that." Larry said.

"It's very clever if you think about it. No one would dare get himself dirty while searching it." Gami said.

With his powers, Gami shrank the Green Origami Star into a badge and put it in a bag. Something was not right though. He looked at Ori who was shaking like a leaf and looking above.

"What's wrong, Ori?" Gami asked.

Everyone noticed her except Petey who could not see her at the moment. She was stuttering too much to say anything. The others looked above and saw a green gargantuan spider origami hanging above them.

"The Green Guardian!" The group scream.

"What? Where? I wanna see it!" Petey asked, looking around but never upward.

The Green Guardian fell off and landed in the swamps. Its eight legs created shockwaves that did not reach far due to how dense the muddy water was. Petey could finally see the giant spider and screamed at his turn.

"Too close! Too close!" he screamed as he tried to run away.

He nearly tripped on the different elevation in the swamp to have the water level back at the height of his swimsuit. The giant spider chased after them.

"We need to get on safe ground now!" Gami said.

The Green Guardian was too fast for the group. It fired a ray of fire at the group.

"Look out!" Ori screamed.

Petey only had time to turn around and see what was about to hit him. He took full damage from hit but something unexpected happened. The colors on his head reversed. It was now white with red dots.

"Your head, what's happening to it, Petey?" Gami brought up.

"I don't know but this spider made me angry!" Petey shouted.

"Not now! We need to get to safety!" Ori reminded.

Petey did not listen. He pulled out cards from his decks and began browsing them. He pulled out a Tornado card and unleashed whirlwinds with his leaves. The winds caught fire as they hit the spider's two front legs. It set them on fire.

"Cool, I didn't know I could do that!" Petey said, surprised.

"Your body must've absorbed the flames from the guardian's attack." Ori theorized.

The flames slowly spread on the spider who screamed in pain. Petey ran away again and finally reached a grassy spot where he could put down his friends. Everyone prepared themselves put Mario and Larry gasped when they felt the muddy water touching their feet. They both looked down and saw the spot completely submerged.

"The water's rising!" Larry pointed out.

They both went back on Petey's head. There was no way for Mario and Larry to help the giant plant in this fight against the Green Guardian.

"Petey, I hope you have more tricks under your sleeves or we doomed!" Gami asked.

"I don't have sleeves but I'm sure I have some other tricks." Petey joked.

"That's not the time for a joke, you big green stupid plant! Do something!" Ori screamed.

The spider attacked with its talons but Petey pulled out a Hammering Headbutt to deflect the two talons still on fire. It unbalanced the spider causing it to fall in the muddy water. The fire managed to reach the body but most of it got put out when the Green Guardian took a dive in the swamp. It was now Petey's turn but something odd happened when he made a certain gesture unintentionally. The white border around him extended into a sheet of paper and propelled his friends high into the air.

"Oh no! We're done!" Ori said.

The group could not see what was happening below them. A strong light blinded them and the group landed on something hard. When the light vanished, they found themselves on a giant white polygonal sphere with red dots on it. They realized Petey became an origami.

"Woah! What just happened to me!? Why does everything appear so small and weird!?" Petey asked.

"Don't bother thinking about it! Just finish him!" Gami shouted.

Petey could not use his cards at the moment but somehow knew many attacks. He first grabbed after the spider that just stood back up and threw it into a bunch of trees at the other side of the big swampy area. Many of the trees got unrooted with the spider crashing into them. Petey then moved toward the Green Guardian and swung one of his giant leaves to form another burning tornado, this time much bigger than the other one. It moved the muddy water around and collided with the spider, engulfing it with flames. The spider became too hurt and lied down. It turned into a small spider origami that rested in a spot where a tree used to be. The muddy water slowly turned green. Petey dropped his friends near the new origami and reverted to normal.

"Since when did you have such power?" Ori asked to the plant.

"I don't know. It just happened now, never earlier." Petey answered.

"Guys, he's waking up." Gami said.

The group gathered around the small spider origami. The latter seemed surprised to see Ori and Gami, just like the other guardians.

"Could it really be you?" the spider asked.

"Yes, we returned." Ori said.

"After so many years… I thought you forgot us. What brings you back here?"

"Someone took over the Silver Palace and we need the Origami Stars in case something bad happens." Gami brought up.

"In that case, I'll…"

"We already got yours." Larry pointed out.

"You did? Oh! Where are my manners? I'm Emerald, the Green Guardian, and welcome to my home."

"This swamp is your home? It must be cool to live in such a NATURAL habitat." Petey joked.

Emerald had a good laugh. Gami was annoyed but the others chuckled. Since they had what they came for, the group returned to Tangerine Resort with their new friend. All the others returned from their business.

"You all came back! I'm so glad to see you all again!" Ori said.

"Don't worry, sweetie. I'd never give you up or let you down." Birdo said.

"I'll do everything to save my friend!" Daisy said.

"Good. Meet me in the main room of our room. We have much to discuss of our plan." Ori brought up.

Hours later, everyone gathered up in the main room. They sat down on all the couches and sofas in here. Ori and Gami were standing in front of a board with many felt-tip pens on the bottom of the board. Ori began drawing a quick draft of the Rainbow Continent map.

"Alright, everyone! I have great news to announce you. We have all the primary and secondary Origami Stars which means we can now proceed to the Brown Region where we'll find the Brown Origami Star. Do you have any questions so far?" Gami explained.

Petey raised a leaf.

"Yes, Petey, what do you want?" Gami asked.

"Why do we collect those stars again?" Petey asked.

The others in the small crowd spoke to each other. They too wanted to know the reason.

"The Origami Stars hold immense powers that can shape the world. Whoever destroyed the Mushroom Castle, kidnapped Princess Peach and took over the Silver Palace could've heard of those artifacts and looked after them. If this person…" Gami began.

"Wait! What do you mean whoever? I thought Bowser was the one being all of that." Daisy pointed out.

"Ah yes. We forgot to tell you all about this but it was proven that Bowser was not the person behind those crimes which leaves us back to square one."

"But how?"

"Larry over here has proven Bowser is indeed not the one who did this. He couldn't have considering his current state. All of you must've heard the rumors about him being sick, right?"

Everyone nodded.

"These turned out to be true as Larry has direct contact with the Koopa King. Furthermore, he listed many other people who could be behind those crimes while attempting to frame Bowser for them. Here are a list of those names but not limited to." Gami continued.

Ori wrote down the names Larry mentioned the other day. Everyone stared at them.

"I would like each of you to share your opinion on who could ever have done such thing and try to pass the blame on Bowser." Gami asked.

"I'll go first. I'm not too fond of that Dimentio guy. I doubt someone with so much power like him would just disappear like that. He could've created the giant Bowser origami just like he used Luigi as a vessel of destruction." Birdo said.

"Or it could be Smithy. He also has immense powers and was once known to have taken over Bowser's castle and turned it into a factory to manufacture his army. He could have tried to pitch toads and koopas against each other because he hates both Peach and Bowser." Daisy brought up.

"Pfah! It's obviously the shroobs. They knew Bowser decades before anyone else and I'm quite surprised it's now, of all the time they had to do something, they decide to take action. It must've taken a long time to create a giant three dimensional replica of Bowser." Tatanga said.

"That doesn't explain the clumsy letter. Such clumsiness is only known of Lord Crump who could've reinforced the blame-shifting in case no one believed the Bowser origami was indeed from Bowser. Sir Grodius could've made the origami himself with his powers." Larry pointed out.

"What about Cacklett? Fawful is also known for his silliness which means he could've written the clumsy letter to help shifting the blame. Cackletta also has immense powers and could've turned into a giant Bowser origami to destroy the Mushroom Castle and frame Bowser for the crime." Petey said.

A debate began with each other. Though there was no violence between the people, they did grow annoyed of each other and more and more irritated. Gami had to intervene to prevent things to degenerate even further.

"Everyone, I appreciate your participation in this but we must stop arguing for now. Due to the lack of evidence, we will take is as if none of them is guilty for now. Let's return to the main topic of this reunion. Our next target is Chocolate Mountain." Gami interrupted.

Ori drew an upside down v in the zone where she named Brown Region.

"Tomorrow, we'll head there and face the Brown Guardian." Gami continued.

Ori drew a tank on the board.

"Is this what the Brown Guardian looks like?" Birdo asked.

"In its guardian form yes. It's one of the most powerful guardians and blocks the way to the White and Black regions. If you thought facing the six other guardians we faced before, you won't be ready for that one. That is all I wanted to say for tonight. See you next day." The paper plane concluded.

Everyone went to their room. Ori went to check on Petey. The door to Petey's room was barely open. She took a look inside and saw the giant plant facing away and doing something. She had something in mind but was disgusted.

"Eww! Petey, close the door when you do such thing!" She scolded.

The giant plant turned around and Ori saw the popped out belly button on the plant's body. The plant was holding a cotton stick. She became relieved that it was not what she thought it was.

"Oh hi Ori! Sorry I thought I closed it." Petey apologised.

"It's alright. You have a belly button?" Ori asked.

"I know. It sounds weird for a plant to have one but I have one. I clean it every day before going to sleep. I hide it under my swimsuit so no one notices it and asks me about it."

"Never mind. I wanted to speak to you about yourself. Do you really have amnesia?"

"I think so. There are many things I don't remember like where I come from."

"Does your therapist get that desperate every day?"

"It started a few years ago when he would extend his therapies to "study" me and the others at the Los Memoriam Café. He kept begging us to come more often so I volunteered since I didn't have much to do in town."

"I think I might know where you're from."

"You do?"

"There's a koopa named Klaira Koopa that lives in Bowser that would like to speak to you."

"Don't you mean Neo Bowser City? I heard the other one got infested with dry bones and rabid piranha plants."

"I actually mean the old one. And the monsters here became tame so they won't hurt you. And since you're a plant I'm pretty sure they'll welcome you."

"Well, that sounds odd but I might take a look in the city someday."

"Alright, goodnight."

Ori left the room and went to hers. She closed all the lights in her room and only brought a lit candle on a desk. She pulled out a sheet of paper and a bottle of ink with a feather dipping in it. She stared at the sheet of paper for a good moment before thinking of writing anything on it. When she had her mind set up, she pulled the feather out the bottle and began writing.

"Boo…" A voice whispered.

She was so focused in writing her letter she got immediately startled by the whisper. She quickly looked around and saw a pair of eyes in the darkness staring at her.

"Who are you!?" She asked, still frightened.

"What are you doing?" The pair of eyes asked back.

She recognized Tatanga's voice and calmed down. She sighed in relief.

"I'm just writing a letter to someone." She answered.

"Show me." Tatanga demanded.

"I'm sorry. It's personal and…"

The pair of eyes moved toward her. Ori got frightened again when the first thing she saw emerging from the shadow was a raygun pointed at her.

"I said show me." Tatanga repeated as he fully emerged from the darkness.

"Are you nuts pointing that on me like that?" Ori stuttered.

The alien put a finger on the trigger.

"You do that and it'll be the last mistake you would've ever done! Don't think the others won't turn a deaf ear on that!" Ori threatened.

The bat boy had little to do with her threat. He slowly squeezed the trigger. Ori ducked and heard a shot flying near her. She closed her eyes and covered her face with her wings.

"Sorry! I was cleaning my raygun and accidently pulled the trigger!" Tatanga screamed.

Ori opened her eyes and stood back up. She looked at the desk and the letter she was writing was gone. It was now in Tatanga's hand and he was reading it.

"Dear Mario, please come to my castle. I have invited Princess Peach over. We are making a cake just for you…" He read out loud.

He then looked back at the swan with a grin on his face.

"Signed Bowser." He concluded.

"That's the letter Larry showed us the other day!" Ori lied.

The alien rubbed his finger on the letter and the fresh ink on it poured all over the finger.

"I got you now…" The alien said.

"You think so? Who's gonna believe you? The others? Don't be silly. I can just frame you for that. You're an obvious suspect." Ori threatened.

"Of course you will. Ever since you went hostile toward me, I knew something was fishy with you but to set us up like that…"

"What do you want to know?"

"We were never after a princess, we're we? What's in the Silver Palace that interests you at the point of luring all of us there?"

"It's none of your business!"

"It's gonna become it someday if I keep travelling with you. I'll just show this letter to the others then."

"You're trying to blackmail me? Don't make me laugh! Again, who's gonna believe you?"

Tatanga slowly approached Ori with a confident look on his face.

"Where it hurts the most…" He whispered.

Ori did not understand at first. She backed up a little since the alien was very close to her. She looked back at the raygun which was no longer pointed at her. It was pointing in a different direction, a bit to her left. She slowly turned around and saw behind her two red dots. Though she could not see who it was, she immediately recognized the eyes.

"Gami!?" She gasped.

"Ori… How could you?" The red dots said.

"I can explain!"

"Tomorrow morning, eight in the morning, everyone in the main room." The red dots coldly said before vanishing.

"Good luck throwing me under the bus now." The alien taunted before leaving the room.

Ori was lost. She lied down on her bed. She stared back at the desk and letter was back there. She began crying. Her plan could be foiled tomorrow morning but she had no choice. She had to confess everything to her friends. She had been hiding one too many things secret from them. She was unable to sleep from herself so she waited until she could no longer stay awake. It took a few hours but she managed to fall asleep despite what was about to come the next day.


	15. Chapter Brown 1

**BROWN CHAPTERS: TRUTH, DESPAIR AND HOPE**

 **Chapter Brown 1: Chocolate Mountain**

Ori slowly woke up from her bed but still remained lied down in it. She stared at the door on the other side of her room. Someone knocked on the door.

"It's time." Gami's voice said.

The swan did not want to leave her room but she was given no choice. She slowly left her bed and went to the door. She held the doorknob but was shaking a lot. It was like if she tried hard to open a locked door with all the clacking that came from the doorknob. She eventually managed to turn it and slowly open the door. It made a lingering creaking sound. The first she saw on the other side was her brother Gami. No hello, no welcoming look, Gami was staring at her sister. Ori had the idea he was judging her. She completely opened the door and saw the rest of her friends sat on the couches and sofas in the main room. They were talking to each other about various things. When Ori left her room and closed the door behind, everyone went quiet and looked at her. Ori looked back at them and saw the smirk on Tatanga's face. She wanted something bad to happen to the alien for having caught her red-handed.

"Everyone, I have something to announce. It's about the letter found at the ruins of the Mushroom Castle… I wrote it." She confessed.

Everyone was shocked. Tatanga just let out a little chuckle. This revelation angered some of them. Birdo stood up.

"Is this yet another of your game you're playing in our back!?" Birdo accused.

"Did you destroy Peach's castle!?" Daisy accused at her turn.

"Listen to me. I did not destroy the castle. I just wrote the letter to bring you to the Silver Palace." Ori cried.

"First, you hid your true identity to us. Then, you hid the true culprit behind the letter! What else are you hiding from us!?" Birdo pointed out.

"I know who really destroyed the castle."

"Then who did it if it isn't you!?" Daisy promptly asked.

"I… I can't tell, not now." Ori simply answered.

"I knew it! You're still playing that stupid game behind us! I'm out of here. I have much better things to do than following a liar around." Birdo concluded as she left the room.

"Please, come back! You don't understand!" Ori begged.

"Does that mean Peach was never taken to the Silver Palace!?" Daisy furiously asked.

"She is at the Silver Palace! I just know it! You just have to believe me when I'm telling you I can't tell the truth!"

"Nope! I'm done! If you can't tell me the truth, I'm leaving!"

Ori did not say anything back.

"Fine! I'm leaving too!" Daisy concluded before leaving the room.

Ori looked at the ones who remained in the room. Petey seemed unsure but stood up.

"Petey, please believe in me." Ori begged again.

"I wish I could but I just remembered I had something important today that I've been planning for weeks. I'll see you someday." The plant replied before leaving the room.

She looked back at who remained in the room and saw Tatanga standing up.

"What are you gonna do to me now!?" She furiously asked.

"Me? I've got nothing better to do now. Oh wait! I do have something to do better! See you around, kid." The alien taunted before heading out.

When Tatanga left the resort, Ori went to the entrance and looked outside. She saw the ones who left her walking away.

"Yeah right! You all get lost! You're useless anyway! What's the point of having friends if they can't understand you at all!? Is it too much asked to ask yourself why I can't tell the truth right now!? Especially you, Tatanga, you backstabbing prick!" She ranted.

She returned in the main room. Only Mario, Luigi and Larry remained here and, of course, her brother.

"What are you going to do?" Ori desperately asked.

Mario and Luigi stood up and went to see her. She had no idea if they believe her or just followed her because she was their only lead to wherever Peach could be.

"I'm leaving as soon as I find the prince. Let's hope it's sooner than later." Larry said.

What remained of the group gathered together and took the minivan to the Brown Region. The ride there was completely silent. Ori just looked outside the window, lost in her thoughts. When they arrived to the Hazel Citadel, Ori just wandered around in town. Even if she knew where to go in the Brown Region, she was beginning to lose motivation to get to the place. She spotted a café and went inside.

"Ori, we need to focus on our mission." Gami reminded.

"I just need some coffee." Ori emptily said.

She sat at a table right next to a window and ordered a coffee. The others sat around her and she slowly sipped her drink while looking outside.

"Why can't you tell us?" Gami calmly asked.

He could have been angry against his sister but he somehow felt no anger. He, like the others, just wanted to know why Ori lied in the first place about everything. The swan, however, kept starring outside the café and kept sipping her coffee. She noticed a large gathering of koopas holding instruments.

"Is today the Potato Festival?" She asked out of nowhere.

The others had no idea what to answer. They looked outside and saw the parade walking down the street. Larry immediately hid behind the wall when he spotted a koopa with blue hairs leading the parade.

"Larry, what's wrong?" Gami asked.

"What is he doing here!? I told him to stay put at the Koopa Kastle!" The punk said.

"Who?"

"Ludwig, the blue-haired guy in the crowd. Something's not right."

"Should we go see them?"

"Not now, especially not with the Mario brothers with us. He'll accuse me of betrayal. Let's just let him and his parade leave town then we'll get to Chocolate Mountain. I'll take care of him myself."

The parade slowly left the town. The group left their table and went outside the café. There was no more sign of the parade. The group continued to Chocolate Mountain to their mission. They followed a road that led them at the top of the mountain. Bad luck arose when the group met the parade at the top of the mountain. The blue-haired koopa was standing on a brown rock, holding a wand, and immediately recognized Larry.

"Ah! What have you been doing, traitor!?" The blue-haired koopa shouted.

The parade divided into two lines to form a corridor and let the group approach the koopa standing on the big brown rock.

"What are you doing here, Ludwig? You're supposed to be at the castle!" Larry pointed out.

"Haven't you gotten the memo? I am the new leader of the koopalings. The others voted by unanimity to travel here and finish what you barely started." Ludwig arrogantly explained.

"You went against my orders, endangered the king's sake, just so you could get your way! No one's gonna vote for you! You're mindlessly putting your sovereign's live in danger!"

"Look who's talking! The person who went on his own leaving everyone behind!"

"I ordered YOU to stay at the castle! I went alone here because I knew the prince would never go back with you!"

"Do not mention him!"

Ludwig furiously stomped on the rock with his wand. The rock began shaking. The parade ran away in fear while the group backed away.

"What is happening?" Ludwig asked, unable to keep his balance on the rock.

The rock unfolded and Ludwig was thrown airborne. The rock then re-folded. It became a giant tank. Ludwig landed on the top of it and stood back up.

"How convenient. A tank at my disposal at that exact moment to punish a traitor. Prepare to die!" Ludwig shouted.

"It's not on your side! It's the Brown Guardian!" Gami yelled.

"The what!?"

The group had no choice but to fight the Brown Guardian. Mario began his turn with a Hammer Suit card and threw hammers at the tank. He already had in mind that his stomps would not do much against the armored hull and opted with something that packed more of a punch. The hammers were indeed able to damage the tank. Larry looked in his cards but most them were Flirt cards while the two others were Defense cards he could only use with a wand. He discarded one of the two Defence cards and got a tennis racket instead. He could not use it now since it just came in his hands so he passed his turns.

"Go, tank! Fire!" Ludwig ordered.

The tank instead dashed toward the group. Mario used a Metal Cap card to coat himself into metal. With this, the tank was unable to run him over and had to back up. The metal cap effect faded away.

"I told you to fire, you stupid piece of scrap! I knew this would happen!" Ludwig screamed as he stomped on the tank with his foot.

Mario attacked again with his hammers and Larry used his tennis racket card. The punk then spat a fire ball upward from his mouth and swung it with his tennis racket into the tank. It did not do much damage as the Brown Guardian was fireproof.

"Alright, tank! I hope you won't do the same mistake as before!" Ludwig said.

The brown guardian aimed its cannon at Larry. The punk did not have anything to defend himself against the incoming attack. He placed his arms in front of his face to block the bullet the tank fired and took half damage instead of full damage. The third was in and the group kept attacking the tank. This turn was enough to cause the Brown Guardian to smoke.

"Ahh! Code red! Tank's hull is critical!" Ludwig screamed.

The tank then unfolded, sending Ludwig airborne once again. It shrank and turned into a miniature tank origami around the same size as Ori and Gami. Ludwig fell on the ground head first. Gami went to see the Brown Guardian.

"I'm terribly sorry for attacking you on sight." The guardian said.

"Wait! You weren't possessed by the substance?" Gami asked.

"Luckily, I wasn't! I had to fight you in case you were infected with it. I heard the rumors spreading around the continent and hid on Chocolate Mountain. But then this koopa climbed on me and bothered me."

Ludwig slowly stood back up. His first concern was his hairs.

"Ahhh! My hairs are ruined! You'll all pay for this!" He threatened.

"I'll take care of him. I know how to beat him. Get your star and we'll leave soon after I'm done with him." Larry said.

The others gathered around Larry and Ludwig who were about to fight.

"How dare you go against your leader!?" Ludwig shamed.

"I'm still the leader." Larry reminded.

"Not for long!"

Larry pulled out one of his Flirt card and gave a seductive look at Ludwig.

"You wouldn't dare hit your boss, would you? What if I could give you power?" Larry flirted.

This made Ludwig blush a little but he was still in for a fight.

"Gah! Don't tempt me, foul beast! I'll show you!" Ludwig warned as he pulled his deck of cards.

He pulled his first card off his hand and a foil appeared in his hand. He went at Larry to attack him with the foil but the punk had a Disarm card to take his weapon away. The punk slapped the weapon off Ludwig's hand.

"Ahh! I forgot you could do that!" Ludwig said.

Larry then pulled a second Flirt card.

"Listen, I admire you want to lead the way but you need more than just the will and I can give you what you're lacking." He flirted once again.

Ludwig blushed even more.

"Please, stop this, demon! I don't think take any more of that!" He begged.

He looked through his cards but played nothing. He skipped his turn. Larry was about to pull out the last Flirt card he had in hand but Ludwig put away his cards.

"I forfeit. I'm no match for you, Larry." Ludwig declared.

The others celebrated the victory but Larry did not. He stepped forward and, in a completely unexpected turn of event, he took off his bracers and tossed them on the ground in front of Ludwig. He then took his wand and tossed it with his bracers. He turned around and looked at the sky. It must have been noon or early in the afternoon as the sun barely made it high above everyone.

"Larry?" Ludwig asked, confused.

He went to see the punk.

"I lost my taste for this a long time ago. We were supposed to be a gang of friends, united in purpose under one mission. To protect and serve the Koopa Kingdom…" Larry first whispered.

He then lowered his head. The others just stared at them.

"What took me to be the leader? Having known the koopalings would be full of self-entitled brats thinking they know better than anyone else… Like Wendy…" He continued.

"Larry, don't tell me you're about to…" Ludwig started, about to cry.

Larry then looked at him and poked his belly with a finger that felt like a dagger stabbing through his chest. Ludwig let out a pained grunt and backed away.

"Like you, especially you!" Larry scolded.

Ludwig became sad and looked down, ashamed of his behavior. The others kept looking at him and Larry.

"Having known such thing, I would've never been your leader let alone joined a bunch of pricks that only care for themselves. Today, I part away from you and the others. I am done with you and the koopalings. Goodbye." The punk coldly concluded.

He then walked away. He did not even stop at the group he was travelling with. He kept walking away.

"Larry?" Gami asked.

"I'm leaving everything behind." Larry said.

"But what about the prince? Wasn't that your mission?"

"Not anymore. I'm done with this."

"But we need you, Larry. You can't just leave us like that!"

"You never needed me. With Mario on your side, you could even reach the end of the world if you asked him to."

Larry kept walking away until he vanished behind the rocks that decorated Chocolate Mountain. Ori slowly left at her turn.

"Ori?" Gami asked.

"I'm done. I'll be at Tangerine Resort. I don't want to do this anymore. Seems like saving the world isn't important enough for anyone." Ori whispered.

"But we still have the Mario brothers!"

Ori did not say anything else. She just kept going until she vanished too. Gami looked back at his surroundings. Only Mario and Luigi were standing close to him. Ludwig was on his knees and just picked up Larry's belonging. He was crying. This moment was however interrupted when the wind blew and blew more and more violently. Everyone looked around and, when they noticed it became darker, looked above and saw a giant airship about to land. They moved away and the airship landed. A koopa sharing similar traits with Larry and Ludwig came out. It had a pink head with a purple shell and was wearing sunglasses.

"Good morning, Rainbow Continent!" The koopa shouted.

He then noticed the small group and went to see it.

"Yo, Lud! I dropped the others exactly where ya wanted me to." The koopa said.

He noticed the items Ludwig was holding in his hands.

"That Larry's stuff? Ya met him already?" The koopa said.

He then had something in mind. He looked at the plumbers and became enraged.

"Don't tell me ya beat my boy Larry! You're gonna…" The koopa began.

"Not now, Roy! They're not to blame. I am." Ludwig finally spoke up.

Roy immediately stopped in his track and looked back at Ludwig.

"So it came to this in the end. Ya still want us to carry with the mission?" Roy asked.

"I don't know. All I wanted was just to lead us. I didn't want Larry to completely quit the koopalings." Ludwig whispered.

"How bout we put him back in?"

"Are you listening, idiot!? He left on his own behalf!"

"So? If you apologise for how stupid ya acted right before he quit, I'm sure he'll join back. The kid's gullible."

"That's Lemmy who's gullible! Larry's not the kind of person who forgets easily. Still, I want him to return."

"So, what's the plan then?"

"We need to think of a way to bring him back."

Ludwig then turned to the others.

"I hate to ask my enemies to do a favor for me but…" He began.

"I thought the koopas and the toads made peace." Gami pointed out.

"They did but I still consider them or anyone related to them as my enemies. Anyway, do you think you can help us gather our friends together?" Ludwig said.

"What are you going to do?"

"I'll keep Roy on our original mission to retrieve the prince. As for me, I don't know. I need a break. I'll be in Azure Cove."

Ludwig then pulled out a pencil and a sheet of paper and wrote something down. He gave the sheet to Gami. The following was written on it:

Morton Koopa Jr: Red Region

Iggy Koopa: Yellow Region

Wendy O. Koopa: Purple Region

Lemmy Koopa: Green Region

Scribbles of faces accompanied the names to make the job easier. Ludwig then gave a small medallion to them.

"These are our friends. Once you get in contact with them. Show them this medallion. They'll understand they'll have to return to the airship." Ludwig explained.

"Will do." Gami agreed.

"Why are you that accepting?"

"We've been travelling with Larry. He was helping us get the Origami Stars and we were helping him find the prince."

"I see. Good luck in your quest then. You'll need it."

Ludwig and Roy went on the airship and it left the place. Gami looked back at the plumbers.

"Let's return to Tangerine Resort. I need to speak to Ori." Gami said.

And so, our heroes, less than usual but with a new goal, left Chocolate Mountain with the Brown Guardian and The Brown Origami Star. No one knew if they would be able to complete their quest of rescuing Princess Peach let alone understand what was truly going on in the world.


	16. Chapter Brown 2

**Chapter Brown 2: Reuniting the Gang**

The group returned to their lodge in Tangerine Resort. They searched for Ori here until they stumbled across a locked door. They could hear Ori crying behind the door. Gami stuck close to the door.

"Can't you tell me who's behind all this, Ori?" He asked.

"Leave me alone!" Ori's voice sobbed.

"At least, tell me why you can't."

"I said leave me alone!"

Gami slowly left the door and landed on a couch. He sighed. The Mario brothers followed him and sat on another couch facing him.

"That's not good. How am I supposed to help her if she doesn't want to tell me anything?" He Gami wondered.

He looked at the plumbers.

"Listen, guys. I hid something from you too. A few days ago, Tatanga went to see me and told me how she could not be trusted and had something to hide from us. I first thought it was her identity because he spoke to me the night of the day before we went to the Orange Region. However, the next night, He told me her identity wasn't the only thing she was hiding. I didn't want to believe him any further. Who would you believe first between your sister and a complete stranger you just met?" Ori said.

The Mario brothers expressed their answer by only raising a finger.

"Yes, I'd believe my sister first. But then, the night of the day we got the Green Origami Star, Tatanga took matters in his own hands and confronted her. I wanted to stop them but I stood there as he made her spill the beans… right in front of me. That's not the Ori I knew before I left the Silver Palace. She would always tell me everything no matter how embarrassing or ridiculous it could sound. This time however… Mario, Luigi, do you believe there are truths that are so true they could scare people away?" He asked.

Both Mario and Luigi nodded.

"I intend to find out what makes it so. It could be absurd too but I have to find out by myself. Listen, guys, I still want to go to the Silver Palace. I'm not forcing you to follow me. That's become personal and if you want out of this then so be it." Gami concluded.

The paper plane left the couch and was about to leave their lodge. The Mario brothers followed him.

"Do you still want to go to the Silver Palace? Do you believe Peach could be there?" Gami asked.

The plumbers nodded.

"I guess so. It's your only lead to her and it'd be a mistake to ignore it even tough you've been hidden so many things from. Alright, we'll go together but, before, we need to help that Ludwig guy with his problem and we'll check on our other friends if we can convince them to join us back." He concluded.

"What about me?" The Brown Guardian asked.

"Ah yes, Quake. I want you to contact the other guardians and tell them to come here."

"It will be done, your highness."

The small group left Tangerine Resort and entered the minivan. Luigi went back behind the wheel. HE looked back at Gami to ask him where to go first.

"I guess we could return to Verdant Village to meet that Lemmy guy and see if Petey returned." Ori proposed.

They drove away and toward the Green Region. It became nighttime when they arrived to Verdant Village. The Los Memoriam Café was about to close. They entered it and noticed the bucket of paint cleaning the table.

"Excuse me? Do you work here?" Gami asked to the bucket.

"Good evening! I'm Huey, one of the staff members of the Los Memoriam Café. I usually am the cook but we got a temporary staff shortage lately. What can I do for you?" The bucket replied.

"Have you appeared to have seen Petey recently?"

"Not since he took some days off yesterday. Didn't he go with you guys?"

"Yes but he left for a reason and we thought he came back here."

"You might wanna ask my boss Blumiere. He's more in contact with him than I am."

"Thank you then."

The group went at the counter where Blumiere was serving a koopa sharing similar traits with Larry. This one had a multicolor Mohawk on his head and a yellow ponytail in the back of its green head. No fang came out its serpent-like mouth and it was wearing an orange shell.

"Ah! Hello again! What brings you here?" Blumiere asked.

"Hello! We've been looking for Petey. Did he happen to pass by here recently?" Gami asked back.

"He did make a tour late this morning. He told me he wanted to make some urban exploration in Bowser City."

"Wait! You mean he won't come tonight? Aw bummers! I wanted to hear him tell jokes." The koopa complained.

The koopa sounded like a child and could have been one considering how short he was. He may have been around Mario's size but koopas are usually quite taller.

"Who are you?" Gami asked the koopa.

"Me? I'm Lemmy Koopa, member of the koopalings!" The koopa boasted.

"You're that Lemmy Koopa!? I have something to show you."

Gami pulled out the medallion and showed it to the koopaling. Lemmy was confused but understood what it meant.

"Already? I just arrived here and he's already calling for a meeting! I suppose something must've happened at the last minute. Thanks for the heads up! Bye!" Lemmy concluded.

The koopaling left the café and so did the group. The group went back to the van and headed to the Purple Region. They entered the outpost inside the wall surrounding the region. Inide, the same hammer bros were here but a new figure was also inside. It was another koopa sharing similar traits with Larry but had an orange head, big lips and a pink shell. It was wearing big golden rings on its wrists, a collar of red pearls around its neck and a pink polka-dot ribbon on its head.

"Ugh! I don't wanna go in." The koopa lamented.

The group went to see the koopa. The koopa then noticed her. She was about to scold them, possibly for being in a restricted area, but showed a more welcoming expression when she noticed Mario among the group.

"Oh Mario! I didn't know you were going in too. Can we go together please?" The koopa ask.

"You must be Wendy from the koopalings." Gami brought up.

"Yeah, someone's looking for me?"

Gami showed her the medallion. She was relieved to see it.

"For once I'll be thankful Ludwig is giving me an order. I have to go. See ya next time, Mario!" Wendy bid before leaving the outpost.

The group took the other exit into Bowser City. The hammer bros did not bother to stop them. Mario was in the group after all. Just like the first time, the group was abducted from the mysterious spaceship. They recognized Tatanga's ship so they did not react as much as the first time. Once aboard the ship, they were not held in a prison cell and directly went to the bridge where Tatanga and Katsini were awaiting their arrival. They were both playing tennis before the group showed up in the Purple Region.

"Oh look! The little paper plane came back. What do you want now?" Tatanga rudely asked.

The alien was clearly not in the mood to meet back his old friends especially not with how Ori played behind his back.

"Listen, Tatanga. I'm still going to the Silver Palace, whether you like it or not. You don't have to come with me but I still wanted to see and know if you would if I was the one in charge." Gami explained.

"How are you different of your sister?" The alien asked.

"Look. There's a lot I'd like to tell you but the only things I have in mind right now are but theories."

"Still better than not saying a thing. You have an idea and I like that. So, what's on your mind?"

"I think the reason Ori can't tell us anything is because either we wouldn't believe her or immediately leave her."

"Just like what happened this morning."

"Yeah but I think Ori believed it would've happened as soon as she met with all of us."

"Hmmm. I don't have anything better to do so I guess I'll just tag back along with you guys."

"That wasn't what you said this morning."

"It was just to tease her. So, where next?"

"First, we'll gather the others. We'll send everyone back to the Tangerine Resort for another meeting. For now, beam us back down in Bowser City. We heard Petey went here."

"Katsini! You heard them! Beam them back down!"

"Yes, master." Katsnini responded.

The trio was immediately beamed back down at the same place they were before being abducted. They headed inside Bowser City through the road as opposed to the secret tunnel. The city had standard activity like other cities aside of the dry bones and piranha plants inhabiting it. There was a large gathering of them in front of the florist hiding the secret FEMS laboratory. The group went to see the crowd.

"What's going on here?" Gami asked.

"There was some huge plant that walked down the streets and Klaira Koopa brought it inside the florist. There are no sign of them inside but they must be upstairs." A dry bone answered.

The group politely fended their way through the crowd. It was not easy at first since no one in the crowd understood they wanted to go in but then the monsters realized and let them through. The group did not bother to check upstairs because they knew Petey would not be there. They directly went to the basement then the laboratory. They found Petey sat down on the ground next to a dry bone. Both were watching a television playing old video cassettes, some the group never found on their first visit.

"Many weird things happened to me the other day." Petey brought up.

"What kind of weird things, sweetie?" The dry bone asked.

"I once touched fire and my head and my swimsuit changed color. I was able to create fire with my leave."

"Ah yes. That's the result of your mutations."

"Will they stop one day?"

"I don't know. No scientist here at the time it was still under Bowser was able to calculate your mutation rate. Some say it will never end as if you are in some state of stable mutation and your body will adapt accordingly with your environment."

"Should I be worried about this?"

"Of course not, sweetie. You are the perfect lifeform albeit goofy-looking. You will always adapt to your surroundings. It's the best thing life could ever gift you."

"Okay but there's another weird thing that happened to me. I once turned into an origami and beat a giant spider origami all by myself. Does that mutation thing do that?"

"I don't think so. That's something I don't have the answer. Maybe one of your new friends has the answer."

"Yeah…"

They stood silent in front of the screen still playing its video cassette. Once the screen went black, the dry bone leaned on Petey's body and the giant plant naturally took it in his leafy arm. Neither Mario or Luigi or Gami dared intervene in this moment. They all stood there watching as two old friends finally reunited after years of being separated.

"Judging the way you spoke of your new friends, you must really like them." The dry bone said.

"Yeah, but there's that one friend who hid something big from me and is hiding something else from me. When I left her, I didn't mean it like I no longer wanted to be with her. She told me the other day of you so I was anxious to meet you. I'll go back with her because I was helping her with something."

"She must be afraid of a certain thing to happen if she hides it from you. Give her some time and she'll someday be ready to tell you. That is then you'll understand why she waited so long."

"I have to go, mom. I feel like something is falling apart."

"You do that, sweetie. And I wish you a great life."

Petey finally stood up and turned around. He was surprised to see some of his friends here.

"Speaking of my friends, here are some of them." Petey said.

"Yes, I met them a few days ago. They helped us calm down our mayor." The dry bone said.

Petey left the laboratory with his friends. As they walked out of Bowser City, they spoke to each other.

"What brought you guys here?" Petey asked.

"We were looking for you." Gami answered.

"Don't worry. I'd have returned to you and the others.

"That's refreshing to hear. You remember the others left us, right?"

"Yeah but where's Larry?"

"He left too. Something bad happened with a member of his gang and that was the last straw for him. He quit his gang and us. We're trying to reunite our group."

"Cool. Where should we go next?"

"Return to the Tangerine Resort. Once we're done with our jobs, I'll explain everything."

Petey parted way with the group when they left the Purple Region. Since it was late, the group slept in the minivan. They then continued the next day to the Red Region where they thought they could meet Birdo there. Unluckily, they could not find her anywhere. They stayed longer in the region to find the koopaling they were looking for. Their person did not seem to be in town so, out of nowhere, they decided to pay another visit to Ruby. They were not expecting to see Ruby with a dark-skinned koopa with a white head and a black star birthmark covering half its face.

"Oh! Thank goodness you're here, Prince Gami! This koopa is driving me nuts!" Ruby said in relief.

"IS PRINCE HERE!?" The koopa shouted.

"No! He's not! That's the hundredth time I've been telling you this!"

The group went to see the koopa.

"Who are you?" Gami asked.

The koopa did not answer right away. Everyone awkwardly stared at him until he made a little grunt.

"ME MORTON!" The koopa shouted.

"Yes! Hello, Morton. I have something to show you." Gami said.

The fact that Morton was taking time to react to his voice weirded Gami out. Nonetheless, he had to show him the medallion which he did. Morton stared at the medallion and took another while to react to it. He then gasped.

"LUDWIG WANT MORTON BACK! BYE!" He simply shouted as he left the ruins.

"Finally, now I can go see the others." Ruby sighed.

The group left the volcano and headed to the Yellow Region. They first arrived in Flaxen City. Gami took a break near a palm tree that was just installed recently.

"Alright, Iggy Koopa must be around here." Gami said.

"You're looking for me?" A voice asked.

Gami looked around but could not find the person. He then looked at the palm tree. It was in fact a tall koopa sharing similar traits with Larry but had green hairs shaped like leaves and was wearing big oval glasses that showed its blue eyes.

"Oh hi big scary-looking palm tree! What can I do for you?" Gami awkwardly greeted.

The palm tree lookalike laughed.

"What's so funny? I just insulted you." Gami pointed out.

"What? I can't laugh at myself sometimes?" The tall koopa asked.

"Of course you can. Anyway, you're Iggy?"

"Yeah, who's asking?"

Gami pulled out the medallion and showed it to Iggy.

"Thanks for the heads up. I have to go. See ya!" Iggy said before leaving.

The group took a look around town and entered a pub. They found Birdo who just finished a performance as everyone in here was applauding her. The group went to meet her in a private room with Wart.

"What are you guys up to? And where's Ori?" Birdo asked.

"She quit." Gami simply answered.

"So what are you gonna do now?"

"I still intend to go to the Silver Palace. I need to find out what's going on there. You wanna come?"

"Listen. I'd love to but after everything Ori hid to me and the others I think I'll stay away from this place as much as I can."

"Birdo, think about all the inspiration you'll get to write songs if you go there." Wart brought up.

"Sweetie, you don't understand."

"What do you mean I don't understand? Didn't you tell me what happened between you and that swan? I know you don't really like her because of that but you can still go there for a different reason."

"But I don't need inspiration. I already have a lot."

"Someday, you'll run out of inspiration and have to find more somewhere. Better late than soon."

Birdo sighed. It was clear she did not want to go back with the group because of Ori. She looked back at Gami.

"How many things are you hiding from me?" Birdo asked.

"I'm not hiding anything crucial for my mission if that's what you're asking. I knew I hid my true identity to you and the others at first but that's because royalties make easy targets for other royalties who want to take over kingdoms. Plus, I didn't want to attract attention too much." Gami explained.

"Hmmm. You could tell me why you hid that from us. I guess I'll give Ori a second chance. She must have a very good reason to not tell us anything right now but if it's yet another stupid reason I'm leaving for good. Understood?"

"Point taken. Return to the Tangerine Resort and I'll explain our next move."

"You got it, sweetie."

The group left Flaxen city and headed to Azure Cove. They walked down the streets of Azure Cove to look for Ludwig.

"Alright, we met all the koopalings Ludwig asked us to. We can go tell him. We have yet to find Daisy and I'm not too optimistic to get Larry back in our team." Gami said.

"Oh. It's you." A familiar voice spoke.

The group looked around and saw Daisy with her assistant Misses Roseworth. She did not have her enthusiastic attitude anymore.

"Why are you looking for me?" Daisy asked.

"We need help to get to the Silver Palace." Gami said back.

"I'm not going back with you until Ori tell us what's really going on."

"Listen. I don't know if she'll be able to tell us anytime soon. Just give her some time and she'll eventually be able to."

"She tied my patience enough. It's now or never."

"Look. Mario and Luigi are still going to the Silver Palace."

"I don't care."

"But what if Peach is at the Silver Palace? Isn't she your friend?"

"And if she isn't here?"

"Who knows? No one has been there yet. Are you really going to give up on your friends because you can't know everything from them?"

"I…"

"Mario and Luigi are coming with me. What about them? What if something happens to them too?"

Daisy was hesitating but eventually agreed.

"I already lost Peach. I won't lose Mario or Luigi, especially not Luigi. Count me back in!" Daisy declared.

"Great! Meet us back at the Tangerine Resort. I'll explain everything once we return."

Daisy nodded and left Azure Cove. The group walked around more and found Ludwig at the stadium where the group first met Dorrie. He was sat down on a bench, all alone. He was holding Larry's belongings in his hands and stared at them.

"Hey, we did what you wanted us to do." Gami brought up.

Ludwig did not react at first. He sighed.

"To think he was just a mere farmer boy before he became captain of Bowser's royal guard." He whispered.

"What's that between you and Larry?" Gami asked.

"I couldn't stand being bossed around by someone who never grew up in the big city. I was afraid to be seen as powerless by the others if I let Larry become the leader. But since the others voted for him by unanimity, I had no choice but to comply." Ludwig said

"So you're one of those aristocratic pretenders."

"You can put it like that but I'm just a person that cares too much for hierarchy. And thanks for sending them the message. I'll be going soon."

Ludwig did not say anything else. The group left him alone and returned to the Tangerine Resort. All the people they met today and yesterday after Chocolate Mountain was here even the six guardians before. Though something was not right. The door to Ori's room was wide open and she was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's Ori!?" Gami worringly asked.

"She said something about saying goodbye to an old friend." Quake brought up.

"Saying goodbye? She must be at the train station!"

Everyone in Tangerine resort gathered and left the place to head to the train station. The guardians stayed behind as this was none of their business. The bigger group arrived at the train station and explored all the docks. They eventually found Ori and, out of surprise, Larry.

"So, where are you going then?" Ori asked to Larry.

Just like after they got the Brown Origami Star, Ori was still discouraged.

"I don't know. Somewhere where no one I know will ever see me." Larry replied.

"You don't want me to come with you?"

"I rather not. Being with someone I know reminds me of all the bad things I've been through."

"I see. Goodbye then."

Ori was about to leave until she noticed all her former friends here. She did not know how to react.

"What are you all doing here?" Ori asked to the group.

"Ori, we're all going to the Silver Palace, whether you like it or not." Gami asked.

"Oh really!? After each and every one of you left me the other day, you want to gather up again and pursue with my mission! That's real credible! Why are you here and tell me the truth this time!"

"We still have our doubts of you, Ori. We want to know why you can't tell us the truth. We care for you but it's hard when you keep hiding things from us. You don't have to tell us now."

Ori exasperatedly sighed. She just moved toward Gami and looked straight in his eyes.

"You won't believe me… That's all I can say for now…" She whispered.

"At least, that's a start. Take your time." Gami said.

"I'll go back with you but I'm leaving as soon as we find out what's happening inside the Silver Palace. Deal?"

"Deal."

Everyone looked back at Larry, the last member that had yet to join back the group.

"Don't bother. I made my decision. I'm not returning." The punk said.

"Larry!"

There were five other voices calling his name. The rest of the koopalings just showed up and went to see Larry. Ludwig was not present among them. This did not surprise the punk.

"LARRY CAN'T LEAVE!" Morton shouted.

"Oh right. I didn't tell any of you." Larry said.

"You can't just leave us like that, Larry-o! What are we gonna do without you?" Wendy cried.

"You'll be much finer without me." Larry coldly replied.

"Hey! That's no way to speak to any of us. You always treated us with respect before." Iggy pointed out.

"That was because I didn't know any of you were selfish pretenders!" Larry accused.

"Look what ya did to Wendy! That's not ya, boy!" Roy said.

"And where's Ludwig in all of this!? Let me guess! Parading back in the Koopa Kingdom of how he'll become the next koopa king!" Larry coldly said.

"He'll come! I think he had to make a detour before." Lemmy said.

The train arrived and stopped at the dock. Larry turned around and walked away. He did not say goodbye to anyone or even wave a hand. He went to the first door he saw and waited for it to open. Though, once it opened, he had to wait to let the passengers leave the train. When he was about to finally board the train, after seconds of waiting that felt like an eternity, Ludwig just showed up at the train's door. He took the train to get here. He had his hands behind his back.

"I'm gonna say it to you like I told you on Chocolate Mountain: I quit! Now, get out my way!" Larry yelled.

"Which is why I won't ask you to come back." Ludwig said back in a very calm tone.

"What are you waiting for to move out the way!?"

"However…"

Ludwig showed his hands that were holding Larry's belongings.

"Please keep those with you." Ludwig advised as he lent Larry back his belongings.

"Why?" Larry confusedly asked.

Ludwig stepped out the train and hugged the punk.

"Remember the good times we had together. Do not cling on bad times too much as you will never be able to either apologise to or forgive anyone. I understand you wish to leave to places where you will never feel betrayed. And, wherever and however far away you will be from us, if you ever feel sad or lonely, remember you can always call us or pay us a visit. You're our friend, Larry, and you will always be. I hope it's the same for you. And, if you ever wish to come back, you will always be welcome to join us back not just as a member but back as our boss because that's what you strive the best at." Ludwig whispered.

The train's horn whistled. Ludwig let Larry go.

"Looks like your train's about to depart. It's time to say goodbye and may my best wishes of a great life bring you the best life may ever gift you." Ludwig bid.

He walked away. The others just stared at him and completely ignored Larry. Ludwig stopped walking when the train began moving. He stared as the train slowly left the dock. Once completely gone, he kept walking but stopped once again when he heard footsteps. Someone was running toward him. Ludwig turned around and Larry jumped in his arms. The punk was wearing his bracers once again and his magic wand was nowhere to be seen, certainly in his shell.

"What made you change your mind?" Ludwig asked.

"Your respect… That's the one thing I always wished from you… Thank you…" Larry whispered, crying.

The punk then let off his friend.

"But what brings you and the other here? Haven't I ordered you to stay at the Koopa Kastle?" Larry asked.

It was then Ludwig and the other koopalings were shocked that Larry asked that.

"Haven't you heard? A giant Peach Origami destroyed the castle and took away the king. We thought we told you this but it appeared as our communications had been cut." Ludwig explained.

Those who never heard this new were beyond shocked. It was then that Ori had enough to hide things away from her friends and stepped up.

"Everyone, I want you to meet me in the Tangerine Resort. I'll explain everything." She said.

Everyone went to the Tangerine Resort. They were in the lodge the group rented and ordered a buffet for everyone. The people sat on armchairs and sofas and faced the origamis gathered near a drawing board.

"Listen up! Before I tell you who is really behind this, I need to explain you why the five suspects we named before could've never done such thing. First, all of these suspects were confirmed defeated and none of them could've ever risen back from their loss. Second, none of them could have origami powers. Origamis would never let them have such powers in fear of them taking over the world." Ori began.

"So whodunit?" Gami asked.

Ori looked away for a while. Everyone was waiting her answer. She looked back at Gami.

"Father…" She simply whispered.

Gami became more and more disturbed of the answer.

"Did he really sink that low? To attack what he created?" Gami asked.

"The others guessed that the one behind those attacks was none other than Lord Igami."

"Wait! How do you know?" Birdo asked.

"I was there when he destroyed the Mushroom Castle. I saw the giant Bowser origami from afar. I was supposed to be there that night but ran in late. I couldn't keep my true identity because I suspected my father was after me since I left the Silver Palace. He could've tried to stop me to share the origami powers and technologies in public in fear to lose power over the world. I had to write the letter to bring you to the Rainbow Continent because I knew you would've gone straight to Bowser's castle and found nothing. Listen, I you want out of this since we'll be confronting the creator, I have no problem and you're free to step out."

Everyone looked at each other. The Mario brothers stood up and went to see Ori.

"So you two want out of this?" Ori asked.

The plumbers nodded sideway to disagree. They just stood next to her. Daisy stood up at her turn and went next to the plumbers.

"You still want to be part of this?" Ori asked.

"I have to. If I have to turn every single stone to find Peach, I'll do it!" Daisy declared.

Birdo stood up at her turn. She went among the others already stood up.

"I've heard of what this Igami can do like everyone else. I'd write a song for our exploit once we finish this." Birdo said.

Tatanga stood up at his turn.

"I have nothing else better to do. I guess I'll just go with the flow." He simply said.

Larry stood up, same with the other koopalings. They all went to Ori.

"The prince is somewhere in the Grey Region. I fear he may have been caught by this monster. We're here to save our king and our prince, right guys?" Larry said.

"Right!" The other koopalings shouted.

Petey stood up and went to the others.

"There's something I need to understand from me and I think only your father has the answer. I won't leave until I know why I can become an origami." Petey said.

"Thank you all. Since we're short on time, we'll have to split the group into three groups. One group will stay at the airship while the two others will be sent in the White and the Black regions. Who wants to be the chiefs?" Ori asked.

Both Mario and Luigi proposed themselves to be chiefs.

"Good. Chose two people you wish to bring with you. Everyone else will stay in the airship and will only assist if something goes wrong." Gami said.

Mario looked at his friends while Luigi was already decided. Luigi immediately picked Daisy and Tatanga. This only left Birdo, Petey and Larry to Mario but only two of them could join him. He made up his mind and picked both Larry and Birdo.

"Now that's set, Team Mario will go with me in the White Region." Ori said.

"Team Luigi will then go with me in the Black Region." Gami said.

"We're about to face the two most dangerous guardians according to the inhabitants of those regions. It's said they nearly rival Lord Igami's power but the thing is no one ever saw them. Superstitions or not, stay on your toes. Who know what can happen. That is all for tonight. We'll explain more tomorrow morning before we depart." Ori concluded.

Everyone went to their room and prepared for the next day. The time was near. Lord Igami was no longer fooling around and continued whatever he is planning to do with the world he created. Mario and friends had to put an end to his schemes once and for all.


	17. Chapter White 1

**WHITE CHAPTERS: A GRASPING TRUTH**

 **Chapter White 1: Snowy Suburbs**

The Mario brothers woke up much earlier than everyone else. They went in the living room despite some of the koopalings sleeping here and sat on a sofa. Mari pulled out his deck of cards and split it in two. He gave one of the two halves to his little brother and began teaching him how to play. Since none of the two plumbers could speak, they did not bother anyone in the living room. It was one of those family moments they appreciated very much in times of crisis.

"You two are already awake?" A familiar voice whispered.

The brothers looked around and spotted Ori who just left Larry's room. She lent hers to some of their new guests and went sleeping in another room the other night. The swan sat down on the sofa with the plumbers and watched as both were playing with the split deck of card.

"I have another deck of cards on me if you'd like to have it, Luigi." Ori brought up.

The green plumber expressed his gratitude toward the origami by thumbing her up. Ori left the living room and returned with a brand new deck of cards while the brothers put Mario's back together. They continued playing cards. Luigi did have identical cards to Mario but also had many new ones. The moment was however interrupted when they heard the television in the living room turning on. The trio looked toward it and saw Tatanga sat in an armchair with the remote in his hand.

"Do you mind? There are still people sleeping around." Ori silently scolded.

"Don't worry. I can mute the TV. I wanted to watch the shows you earthlings usually watch." The alien whispered back.

Ori quietly sighted and looked back at the brothers who went back to their game of cards. Other people in the lodge slowly woke up and gathered around the television on the armchairs and sofas placed to conveniently watch it. Mario took a look through the large window that offered a beautiful view of a canyon but gasped when he saw a dense mass of grey cloud approaching the resort. Everyone had their attention caught and looked at him and saw the giant grey cloud floating in the sky. The cloud was moving abnormally fast as it already passed the resort in a few seconds.

"Something's not right." Ori said.

Everyone in the lodge eventually woke up and prepared themselves. The television was still on while the residents of the lodge were preparing. The channel on the television then abruptly changed to a news channel. Everyone looked back at the television. A mii sat behind a desk and holding sheets of paper appeared on the television screen. The mii was worried.

"Breaking news! A big grey cloud travelled very fast to the southwestern part of the Rainbow Continent pouring rain on Miitropolis. I'm here with a reporter on the streets of Miitropolis from our reporter in place." The mii announced.

A square screen appeared on the screen. In this screen, a mii with a microphone in his hand and an umbrella in the other was standing in the streets of a city. The screen then took the entire place on the television screen and everyone could see the chaos in the city. Miis began rioting and fighting each other.

"Thank you. I'm standing right now on Matt Mii Avenue. The rain is still pouring and you can see it's causing some disastrous effects on the inhabitants of Miitropolis. You can also notice the different color in the rainwater to be some sort of grey, very comparable to something from the Grey Region. We already suspected Lord Igami of contaminating some of our water sources but could this be yet another of his illegal activities but disguised as a natural process? That is…" The reporter said.

Miis jumped at him and beat him down. Another one went to the camera and wrecked it. The screen quickly changed back to the announcer who was more worried.

"Oh no! Our reporter just fell victim to the rain and…" The announcer began.

The announcer stopped looking at the camera and looked elsewhere.

"What do you mean a tsunami is about to hit Miitropolis!?" The mii panicked.

Before he could say anything else, his office was immediately flooded by a mass of grey water. The announcer was completely submerged and the screen displayed a technical difficulty error. The group at Tangerine Resort gasped.

"Oh no… He just made a more fluid grey substance." Ori said.

Mario went to her and expressed they could not waste any more time this morning.

"Yes, we must hurry. Everyone to the airship. We'll fly it to the border of the White and the Black regions." Ori ordered.

The group left Tangerine Resort and boarded the koopalings' airship. Once lifted off, the airship headed to the northeast where the last unexplored locations were. It took much less time on airship to travel to one place from another than in minivan since the airship did not need roads to move around. The airship reached two impenetrable walls of two different colors. One was a wall of darkness. The other was a wall made of a snowstorm. Those who never been to the White or the Black region were surprised of the scenery. The group on the airship gathered around the origamis for further orders.

"This is it. We can't go any further on airship but it is possible to lift up those barriers from inside. Those who weren't picked on either team, land the airship near the borders. Once one of the two barriers have been lifted, we'll be calling you white those walkie-talkies for a pick up then we'll explore the rest of the region on airship. We'll repeat the procedure with the other region." Ori explained.

Gami handed three walkie-talkies, one to Mario, another one to Luigi and a last one to Petey since he would stay on the airship. The airship landed near the borders and Team Mario and Team Luigi departed to their respective destination.

The road through the White Region proved to be perilous. The heavy snowstorm did not only prevent Team Mario to see far away but also tried to push them back. The snow constantly getting on their face did not help either. At least, Team Mario thought of wearing winter coats to resist the harsh temperatures of the White Regions. They heard howls after having walked what seemed to be forever. The group stopped and looked around. They spotted through the snow origamis of white wolves that slowly approached them, growling.

"Hold on. These could be our friends. Let me try something." Ori brought up.

She slowly approached one of the wolves at her turn.

"Excuse me? Do you know the way to the Snowy Suburbs?" She asked to the wolf.

The wolf did not answer. It growled louder and pounced at Ori who immediately moved out the way.

"Never mind! They're ferals!" She panicked.

The group pulled out their cards and made quick work of the pack of wolf origamis. Since each member of Team Mario had fire attacks in their cards or as a standard attack, they dished out immense damage on the wolves that were weak to fire. After all the wolves beaten, Ori took a moment of silence.

"Those poor souls, victim of the grey substance…" She whispered.

"What are you talking about, sweetie? It's the wildlife." Birdo asked.

"You don't understand."

Ori rolled one of the wolves and opened its mouth. A grey liquid was coming out of it. The members of Team Mario gasped after seeing such horrifying thing.

"Mario, sometimes I think we won't make it to the Silver Palace. After everything I saw since we tagged along, I'm slowly beginning to lose hope of surviving the journey." Ori said.

Mario expressed his determination to carry on. The others did so too.

"Yes, I started this quest and I must finish it. I must find out what's happening to my father. I fear for the worse once we get there." Ori said.

The group continued on their way. After more walking, Ori accidently smashed her beak on something hard. She grabbed after it.

"Ouch! I think I broke it." She said in pain.

While Mario took care of Ori by refolding her beak, the others went to check on what she broke her beak. It seemed like a giant panel of glass. The collision with the panel caught the attention of something on the other side. The thing approached the panel. It was a small origami of a polar bear. Because of how dense the panel was, no one could talk through it. Mario went to check on the glass panel and waved at the polar bear on the other side. The polar bear waved back and pointed to his left. Mario followed the glass panel toward where the origami pointed and the others followed him. They reached a half-round metal door where two origamis of penguin stood guard. Seeing Princess Ori with them, the origamis let them enter the dome.

"This is the Snowy Suburbs. To think my father offered me an entire city as a gift." Ori said.

Mario looked back at Ori. He awaited her next order.

"We should take a look around and see how we can disable the snowstorm. Someone here must know how." She said.

"Wait. Since it's your town, wouldn't you remember how?" Larry pointed out.

"I would but it's been years since I haven't been here."

The polar bear origami that showed them the way greeted them inside the dome. It led the group around to show what the city had to offer. Since the group did not have much time right now, they went straight to business.

"Excuse me? Do you know how to turn down the snowstorm?" Ori asked.

"Why yes! There are three towers on the Stellar Tundra. You need to reach them and turn off the generator. Though, you might want to pass by the garage to get some wheels. It's a long way to each tower and the crevices will be your biggest danger." The polar bear explained.

The polar bear then brought the group to the garage. It was locked but the origami knocked on the door. The door opened and an owl origami showed up. As soon as it saw Ori, it brought the group inside.

"Your majesty, I did not expect you to return. What brings you here?" The owl anxiously greeted.

"I need to turn of the towers in the Stellar Tundra. I heard you had a vehicle fit for the harsh conditions out there." Ori brought up.

"Yes! Follow me."

The group was brought in a big room and found themselves in front of an imposing-looking vehicle. It was a rectangular cabin mounted on thick threads that made all the length of the cabin. A big glass panel at the front allowed drivers to see in front of them. It also came equipped with anti-fog lights on the front and rear to give a better view further away.

"That's our latest model of our snow mobile. This one however is military-grade." The owl proudly said.

"Let's hope we won't have to use the weapons too many times." Ori joked.

"Don't worry. The weapons are top-notch and latest edition. It comes with two Bullet Bill launchers on the sides, thunderbolt blasters on the front and, in case of emergency, a cannon model SS on top. I guarantee you it won't come out of any battle with a single scratch."

Before taking the vehicle, Ori pulled out the walkie-talkie and contacted Gami.

"Gami? Are you there?" She asked.

"Yeah. How's the mission on your side?" Gami's voice asked.

"We just received the instructions on how to turn off the snowstorm. We're about to head out to the Stellar Tundra in an armored vehicle. How about you?"

"I didn't have any luck on my side. No one in Coal City knows how to lift up the darkness. Guess we'll have to carry on and…"

Gami did not finish his sentence. This worried Ori.

"Gami, what's wrong?" She asked.

"No… It can't be…" Gami's voice said, disturbed.

"Gami!? Gami!"

The communication was abruptly cut. She put away the walkie-talkie and looked at her friends. She was on the verge of crying.

"I fear they may have encountered the Black Guardian. What are we gonna do?" She asked.

Mario reminded her of their mission in the White Region.

"Right. We'll complete our mission first then we'll go to the Black Region and see what happened." Ori said.

"Don't forget to tell the others on the airship." Larry brought up.

Ori pulled the walkie-talkie again and contacted this time the airship.

"Airship, come in." She said.

"I'm not an airship but I'm on one." Petey's voice joked.

"I'd like to laugh but this is serious. Team Luigi went MIA."

"MIA? Like in Mamma Mia?"

"They're Missing In Action, Petey! Stop Joking for once!"

"Alright, I'm sorry. But how did it happen?"

"We were speaking to them through the walkie-talkie. It then abruptly cut when something was happening on Gami's side. I feared something bad may have happened to Team Luigi. They probably met the Black Guardian."

"Do you want me to go see them?"

Ori was hesitating. She did not want anyone else to recklessly lose their but, at the same time, if she could minimize the amount of time lost due to Team Luigi missing, she might take the chance. She looked at Mario.

"Mario, do you think I should send Petey to the Black Region and see what happened to the others?" She asked.

The plumber tilted his head. Even he had no idea of what to do.

"I can directly contact the airship with my phone. Petey can keep his walkie-talkie if he has something to report." Larry brought up.

"Good. Petey, you can go if you want to. Just keep the walkie-talkie if you ever spot something." Ori declared.

"But what about the others on the airship?" Petey's voice asked.

"Larry can still contact the airship. However, you'll be the only one I'll send to the Black Region. Do you think you're up to the task?"

"Sure thing! I'll be back in no time!"

"That's the spirit! I wish I could be optimistic like you. Good luck then."

She put away the walkie-talkie and looked at her friends.

"It's time for us to move on. I hope Petey finds out what happened to the others." Ori said.

Team Mario boarded the vehicle. The inside was as complex as the submarine's. Like the other, the vehicle had many seats with each having their own command board but did not have the periscope like the submarine. The group took seat inside. Mario would drive the vehicle, Larry would be the assistant and Birdo would man some of the weapons the vehicle had. There was another seat that Ori took. The owl origami opened the door and Team Mario moved out with the vehicle.


	18. Chapter White 2

**Chapter White 2: The Stellar Tundra**

Travelling around in the vehicle proved to be much easier and faster than on foot. Not getting the snow directly in their face was a great relief and they were at warmth's mercy inside the vehicle. Being able to attack and move at the same time was a big time saver as no one inside the vehicle had to pull out their cards and stop on place to act against the corrupted wildlife. Team Mario navigated through the Stellar Tundra into the dense snowstorm. A screen turned on by itself inside the vehicle and on it appeared the owl origami.

"How's the vehicle, your highness?" The owl asked.

Since the screen was at the front, Ori had to leave her seat and come to the front to speak to the owl.

"It's very practical. Thank you, sir." She complimented.

"Don't forget to check radar. You can spot the crevices with these. And the computers will tell you their length and width. Good luck out there!"

The screen went black. Ori returned to her post. The crew inside the vehicle began hearing the radar beeping. Larry had to tell Mario the size of the crevices for him to judge if he could drive over without problem. They reached their first tower after an hour of wandering in the tundra. It looked like a thick and giant beacon with an antenna at the top. Ori left the vehicle and checked on the tower. She returned inside the vehicle.

"Okay, that's one of the three towers we're looking for. It has a power box on the side and is locked with one of those padlocks that require a key to open. Since we don't have any key with us, there must be a tool around in the vehicle to help us break it." Ori explained.

The crew looked around in the vehicle. Birdo found a toolbox with many hard tools in there. Though most of the tools were clippers and screwdrivers, she managed to find a wrench which she deemed to be hard enough to smash the padlock with it. Mario looked at the walls in the vehicle and spotted a hook with a keyring on it. The keyring had around half a dozen keys on it. He took it and showed it to the others.

"I wasn't expecting it but that'll be much better than breaking the lock if one of those keys appear to open the power box." Ori said.

Mario left the vehicle and went to the padlock with the keyring. As soon as he emerged from the hatch, he instantly felt the sheer cold outside and immediately returned inside to get his coat. With the coat, the cold was more endurable and Mario could stay outside much longer. He ran to the padlock and tried the keys. The third one managed to twist inside the padlock and it opened. Mario looked at the vehicle and made a thump up to confirm the keys were indeed for the towers. He could finally open the power box. There was a single big lever inside like one of those seen in laboratories for monstrous experiments. It was pulled up and Mario pulled it down. He felt it was getting a bit hotter outside and the storm was less violent. He could now see a few feet further. But it was still too dangerous to travel on foot. He closed the power box, locked it then returned inside the vehicle. The others laughed when they saw his mustache completely turned white with all the snow on it. The crew returned to their seat and drove away. More crevices were in the way and the repeated the process of identifying them and drive over or around them. They reached the second tower after another hour of wandering in the tundra. This time, Larry was the one to leave the vehicle but took his coat before doing so. The others watched as he walked to the power box on the tower with the keyring in his hand. He tried the keys and found it was the fifth key that could twist in the padlock. The power box opened and the punk pulled down the lever. The snowstorm, if someone could even call it one, became a gentle hail of snow. Larry removed his coat, a good sign it became warmer outside, and closed the power box. He returned inside the vehicle and went back to his seat.

"With only one tower to go, I propose we head directly to where the White Origami Star might be." Ori brought up.

She looked at Mario who declined to do so.

"Why not? We can finally see far and clear enough to distinguish objects." She said.

Mario brought up that maybe the towers acted as padlock to where the Whtie Origami Star could be.

"I suppose you might be right. Let's get to the last tower to completely lift up the storm." Ori concluded.

The vehicle began moving once again. Now, they could see nearly all of the Stellar Tundra. They saw the two towers they already had been to. They could tell as the third tower had a beam coming out of it. With no hesitation, Mario drove toward the beaming tower. Larry, as usual, kept an eye on the radar but something odd happened. The radar first indicated the presence of a crevice but, one rotation later, the crevice disappeared from the radar. Could this be a malfunction of the radar?

"There's a crevice up ahead but the radar struggles to detect it." He said to Mario.

The plumber nodded and carried on carefully. Then, the crevice appeared once again on the radar but was extremely close to the center. Suddenly, the vehicle took a dive at the front and found itself stuck in the crevice. It was altering in width which could have been why it vanished from the radar for a moment. The radar could have a limit in what it deemed as a crevice and what could be a cliff and could have mistaken this one for a cliff for a moment. The crew did not have time to think about. Their safety came first and the crevice was closing itself. Mario opened the rear door and took the keyring with him. The others followed him behind. Everyone managed to abort ship safe and sound but the crevice completely closed itself. They could hear the vehicle being torn apart. Ori was traumatized by what just took place.

"Phew! At least, the storm is calm." She reassured herself.

The group looked around and saw the glowing tower again. The way to it was long a perilous as they now had to battle the wildlife on foot and avoid crevices with no way of spotting them other than Ori looking down. They could tell when a crevice was near when the swan would become scared for no apparent reason. After hours, the group finally reached the last tower and shut it down. The snow stopped falling and they could finally see the stars in the sky.

"Now I remember why I named it the Stellar Tundra." Ori said.

The group looked at the sky, amazed by the many stars up there. Something came in Mario's mind. They did not spend enough time in the White Region to be nighttime already. He looked at Ori.

"Oh. It's always nighttime in the White Region. I remember it's a choice I made because I found snowfields to be more beautiful at night." She said.

"I'll call the airship to pick us up." Larry proposed.

"Good thinking."

The punk pulled out his phone and dialed a number. On the screen appeared Ludwig.

"Ah, Larry! The snowstorm just died out. Shall we pick you back up?" Ludwig asked.

"Yes, please. That'll be faster to explore the region." Larry said.

"We'll be here in no time!"

The punk put away his phone. Ori then received a snowball. She looked around and saw Birdo about to throw another one. Everyone began a snowball fight but had to stop after a few minutes. They had no time to waste. Lord Igami was planning something big, probably to destroy the very world he created. The group went back on their mission. They looked around and spotted a mountain far away. They all followed Ori who led the way. As they were halfway to their destination, the swan became exhausted and slowed down.

"So tired… I need a break…" She whispered.

The others gathered around her. She fell asleep on the snow but something was going on with her. She began slowly unfolding. Mario woke her up to point that out.

"Oh? This? Don't worry guys. I must be so tired I can't even keep myself in shape. I'll just fold it back like that." She claimed as she grabbed after her unfolding beak and folded it back.

It unfolded again. It did not seem like it was unfolding out of fatigue. It was like it was done by force but so slowly to not have anyone suspect of anything wrong. Ori began panicking a little. She folded her beak back again.

"Come on, you stupid beak! Stay put!" She insulted.

Then, the rest of her body unfolded. She panicked more and more and even began crying. She desperately tried to fold everything back in place but lost control of her body shortly after. No one understood what was going on with her. The others just watched as she was unfolding back to a mere sheet of paper.

"What's happening to me!? Someone, help me!" She begged.

She screamed out of terror and suddenly grew in size. She folded back and became a giant white hawk. She howled and took flight. She came back but fired a laser at her friends. Mario and the others moved out the way to not get hit. The airship arrived just in time. Everyone boarded the airship and it took off. Ludwig went to see the newcomers.

"Where's your bird friend? And what's that thing!?" He asked.

"She was the White Guardian all along! We have no choice to fight her!" Larry explained.

The punk then looked back at Mario.

"Since you're the boss, how should we set up?" He asked.

Mario had everything in mind. He first put Wendy and Roy on port side to man the cannons and then put Lemmy and Morton on starboard side to man the other ones. Ludwig was put on top of the main mat to spot the White Guardian while Iggy was put in the command room to work the other weapons. The rest of the crew stay on the bridge.

"We have four cannons, two bob-omb launchers on bridge, two bullet bill shuts on the front and the Banzai Bill under. What's your first order, boss?" Larry asked.

Mario took the wheel and ordered his friends to man the launcher. He looked around and spotted the White Guardian. He carefully manoeuvered the ship to reach the guardian while avoiding all the projectiles it threw at him.

"The hawk's heading to port side!" Ludwig screamed.

Mario spun the wheel to dodge the monster's charge. The cannons on port side fired at it. Only one cannonball hit the guardian. The White Guardian then tried to attack from behind but Mario rose in altitude to avoid the other charge. Once the white guardian showed up again, it was much closer and at around the same height as the airship. Both Larry and Birdo could attack it with the launchers. Not much could damage the guardian. What Ori and Gami said about them was right. This was indeed one of the two most powerful guardians Lord Igami ever created. The White Guardian then charged a laser in its mouth. Mario tried to manoeuver the airship out the way but still managed to get hit. The laser hit the starboard side of the ship. Smoke began coming out this side of the ship. Larry went to see the damage and immediately headed to the wheel. There was a radio right next to it but Mario could not use it since he was unable to speak.

"Iggy, what's the damage report?" Larry asked through the radio.

"The right rotor is out of use! We're losing power!" Iggy's voice screamed in terror.

"Increase power in the left rotor!"

Larry put away the radio and looked at Mario.

"At this rhythm, we're lost. Do you have a plan against this thing?" He asked.

Mario pointed downward.

"The Banzai Bill? We only have one in stock. We can still give it a go but we need to time that impeccably." Larry pointed out.

The punk returned to his post. Mario kept manoeuvering the airship and avoided yet another charge attack. The White Guardian found itself on starboard side and got hit by the cannons. It took a dive and stayed underneath the ship. Larry returned to the wheel.

"We got the target where we wanted. Iggy, drop the Banzai Bill!" Larry shouted in the radio.

"Consider it done!" Iggy replied.

Mario and friends went to the border of the ship and looked below. They could not see much aside the guardian's wings. Then, a strong light appeared below the ship and an explosion happened. A dense smoke spread under the ship. The group waited for it to fade away but it was not over yet. The White Guardian emerged from the smoke, completely engulfed in flames. It planted its talons on the port side of the ship and bit on the main mat. Ludwig immediately slid down the mat to not fall off. He then backed away from the mat and ran to the wheel. The White Guardian chipped the main mat away from the airship. Smoke emerged from what remained of the main mat. Larry returned to the radio once again.

"The main mat's out of use! We're losing altitude!" Iggy screamed.

"Bring me everyone on the bridge and stay at the wheel! Try your best to maintain altitude!" Larry ordered.

As Larry joined back his friends who were ready to fight the White Guardian with their decks of cards, the other koopalings just got on the bridge and got terrified when they saw the guardian up close. The koopalings ran to the wheel and grabbed after it. They all pulled back to keep the airship going up or at least maintain as much altitude as they could. The small group fought the White Guardian with their best cards. It was hard to deal damage to it since the guardian was made of a more resilient paper in the first turns and they lost many healing items to the guardian's powerful attacks. On the next turns, the small group performed Tag Attacks and managed to finally beat the White Guardian. The giant hawk went off the ship and the small group went to the edge of the ship to watch as the White Guardian crash-landed on the tundra and slid all the way to a mountain. They also realized they did not have much time before the airship would meet the same fate. Everyone aboard ran to safety. They were shook and shoved around when the ship hit the ground. A few seconds later, it was all over. The ship completely stopped and everyone slowly stood back up. They all left the airship to look at it. The ship was no longer in condition to be used. Mario ran to the crater the White Guardian made when it crashed and found Ori at the bottom of the crater injured. He picked her up and brought her back to their friends.

"I'm sorry…" She whispered.

The others gathered around her. No one felt resentful toward her. No one expected her to be the White Guardian let alone her knowing it. Everyone did their best to tend to her wounds. It took the work of at least five people including Mario to patch her up as best as they could. Afterwards, everyone headed to the mountain and explored it. With the White Guardian now defeated, there was no more worry. The group found the White Origami Star deep inside the mountain. The wildlife around here became tame and let them pass. As soon as they left the mountain, they heard voices trying to speak through a grill. Mario's first reflex was to take the walkie-talkie Ori kept with her.

"Hello? Hello!" Petey's voice said.

"Petey? What's going on?" Ori said with a weaker tone.

"I found the others. Everyone's fine here."

Everyone was shocked. Team Luigi made it out of whatever danger they got in.

"You did? You really found back everyone? Can you pass them?" Ori asked.

"Hey!" Daisy's voice yelled.

"Can we just go?" Tatanga's voice lamented.

"Hey…" Gami's voice said in a weak tone.

Though Luigi did not say anything, Ori was convinced that everyone did make it.

"Did you find the Black Origami Star?" Ori asked.

"We have it with us. Did you get the white one?" Gami's voice replied.

"Yeah… Let's just get to the Iron Fortress. We now have everything to confront father."

The group carried on toward the Grey Region. Everyone became anxious to meet the one that created their world. They hoped they could also find their loved ones at the Silver Palace or somewhere in the Grey Region. Their adventure was near its end but no one knew what to expect from Lord Igami. With all the destruction he caused, the creator could surely be a tyrant even worse than Bowser. They still had a long way to go before they could finally reach the Silver Palace.


	19. Chapter Black 1

**BLACK CHAPTERS: Eternal Darkness**

 **Chapter Black 1: Coal City**

Team Luigi left the airship and headed inside the darkness that clouded the Black Region. It was every hard to navigate inside the region with how dense the darkness was. Even if each member of Team Luigi had their own flashlight, the light provided by these barely pierced through the darkness. They first entered a forest made of leafless and lifeless trees. Their first encounter ever since they entered the region was a group of bat origamis. Team Luigi let Luigi fight one all alone to see if he understood the rules of the game. It appeared he indeed did as not only he knew of the restrictions with certain cards but also managed to win his first fight without taking damage as he played his cards carefully. Team Luigi finished the other bat origamis and continued deeper into the dead forest.

"My father wanted me to be the complete opposite of my sister." Gami brought up.

The others looked at him, curious. Who would ever want someone to be intentionally evil? Such thing usually comes from people who were never truly loved or cared. But Lord Igami was far from being such person. He had his children, he had his kingdom and, most importantly, he had the power. He created the world after all.

"He said something about balance but I never wanted to be the exact opposite of my sister. In public, I'd pretend to be mean and rude but, with my sister alone, I'd be just like her. Guys, would you listen to your parents even if they told you to be mean to someone else?" Gami asked.

Luigi declined. He always believed people should be kind to each other like his big brother Mario, even if some people would not take this kindness on first sight.

"That's immoral! I can't imagine any parent that would ask their children to be cold-hearted to anyone." Daisy said.

"Well, I did hear of stories about parent turning their children against their own friends. As for me…" Tataga began.

He was hesitating and suddenly stopped on his track. Everyone stopped too and looked at him. The alien looked away, trying to ignore the sights that were put on him. Eventually, he had enough and looked back at the others.

"Why did you think I left my home?" He sighed.

"Should we stop talking about this?" Gami asked.

"That's fine. It's been a while. Let's just move on."

Team Luigi returned to their task. They came across a sign that pointed a direction. Luigi was about to go in this direction and the others followed him but Gami stopped them on their track.

"I remember this place. Don't always believe what you see. We're in the Eternal Forest. Very few made it out alive so we must be careful which direction we go." She brought up.

Team Luigi returned to the sign and examined it. It was placed right in front of a bush. Luigi checked the bush behind the sign and found an entrance to a tunnel. The group all entered the tunnel. Here, the darkness was not the same type found on surface. Flashlights worked as intended in here.

"Luigi, I thought you were scared of darkness. How is it that, right now, you manage to muster your courage?" Gami brought up.

Luigi just looked at Daisy who giggled. He pointed out that he would never disappoint or anger her as he feared those more than anything else.

"I see. So, to fight a fear, you use another fear, just like fighting fire with fire." The paper plane concluded.

The group continued inside the tunnel and found themselves in an incredibly large cave opening. A few lanterns were lighting up the place in this area but it was still hard to navigate without the use of flashlights. Team Luigi looked around and noticed they were standing on wooden platforms surrounded by emptiness. Down below, they could not see any form of ground and suspected it might be either very deep or even bottomless. The idea of falling into infinity scared the members of Team Luigi that could not fly. Fortunately, a few railings were present at the borders of the wooded platform to prevent anyone of falling down.

"This is it, Coal City." Gami whispered.

"This is a city? It looks nowhere near like one." Tatanga brought up.

"I know. I wanted such place so my father would leave me alone and never mention me to be the opposite of my sister. You see. The Black and the White regions are like giant bedrooms to me and Ori respectively. While Ori would always let father in her, I forbade him to ever enter mine. I often invited Ori here as it was the only place in public I could be kind to her."

Luigi had to interrupt Gami in whatever he was talking about. He wanted to know where to go next as much as anyone else in the group.

"Oh! I'm sorry. I tend to sidetrack easily. Anyway, we should speak to the locals around and see if anyone here knows how to lift the darkness. That way, it'll be much easier to explore the Dark Crater where I suspect the Black Origami Star may be." Gami said.

Team Luigi walked around the Coal City. It looked more like an underground village but no building was visible. They were all build inside the cavern walls and thus the overall look of the settlement was like a big empty area shrouded in darkness. Team Luigi had to carefully walk around the wooden platform since some of them did not have any railing or any form of way to stop anyone from falling off. They found some inhabitants around. The inhabitants were Origamis like Gami but only took shapes of black animals such as bats and panthers. No one recognized Gami at first until they pointed out his red eyes. Even then, no one seemed to know if there was a way to lift the darkness. Team Luigi eventually gave up and carried on to where they deemed the Dark Crater may be.

"Gami? Are you there?" Ori's voice asked.

The voice was slightly muffled and distorted as if she was speaking through something. Gami pulled out his walkie-talkie.

"Yeah. How's the mission on your side?" Gami's asked.

"We just received the instructions on how to turn off the snowstorm. We're about to head out to the Stellar Tundra in an armored vehicle. How about you?" Ori's voice answered.

"I didn't have any luck on my side. No one in Coal City knows how to lift up the darkness. Guess we'll have to carry on and…"

He then got a strange feeling. He felt like unfolding against his will. He saw the point ahead of his eyes slowly unfolding.

"Gami, what's wrong?" Ori's voice worryingly asked.

"No… It can't be…" Gami's said, disturbed.

"Gami!? Gami!"

The paper dropped the walkie-talkie by accident. It hit the floor thus breaking in pieces. The other members of Team Luigi wanted to tend after Gami who was slowly unfolding but the paper plane backed off.

"Stand back! You have no idea what's going on with me!" He warned.

And just like that, he ran off, far away into the darkness where he thought no one would ever see him. As he was running away from his friends, Gami was on the verge of tears. The unthinkable was in his mind but he had to do something to prevent it to happen.

"I can't believe this is happening to me. How did I not see this earlier?" He said to himself.

He went in a corridor and spotted a detonator. It seemed ready to trigger an explosion. He swooped around and spotted a pile of explosives accurately placed on a wall. With his remaining strength and will, he brought the detonator right next to the explosives.

"I'm sorry… Everyone… But I have to… Please… Find the star for me… And never try to find me… again…" He whispered to himself.

He was about to press on the detonator to trigger the explosives thus blowing himself up but Gami eventually lost control of his body and lied down on the floor. He unfolded until he became a simple sheet of paper.

"No… I was… so close…" He whispered before his speech became more and more gibberish.

The other members of Team Luigi were still on the same spot. They were baffled by what just happened.

"What just happened?" Daisy asked, confused.

"I'm not sure. Could he be that Black Guardian he mentioned?" Tatanga brought up, as confused as her.

Luigi stepped forward to pick up the broken radio and rallied what remained of his friends to make them realized of the harsh reality they got into. First, their only mean of communication with the outside world was broken thus no one would ever know if they made it out alive. Then, with Gami gone, they no longer had anyone who could guide them into the Black Region. The only they knew was just a theory of where the Black Origami Star could be, the Dark Crater. Luigi proposed to explore Coal City more to have their many questions answered. The others agreed without objecting. With no more certainty, they had no other choice than to give the benefit of their doubt. Team Luigi walked around more and found an origami at an entrance to who knew where. It was an origami of a black bear and it stood in the way though it was too small to be an obstacle.

"Excuse me? Were you with Prince Gami just recently?" The black bear asked.

Luigi nodded.

"Listen. I know a way to lift the darkness. All you need to do is reach the center of Dark Crater and use this. Beware the Black Guardian however. Though no one has seen it, who knows if it'll show itself in harsh times?" The origami explained as he gave the group a bright orb.

Luigi then showed the black bear the broken radio in hope the latter would know someplace in town to have it fixed.

"I don't know. I've never seen such thing. Your best bet would be the workshop near the exit to Dark Crater. I can bring you here if you need to." The black bear said.

Team Luigi followed the origami through more wooden platforms lacking railings and got to a spot of the wall with a large opening. It was a building and inside was many tables and tools. Team Luigi took a table and placed the broken radio on it. They examined the broken pieces to see if and how they could fix the radio. Some wires got unplugged from their extremities but it was no big deal plugging them back. What was truly broken was the circuit board inside. It was cracked in the middle and bent which made it no longer able to fit back inside the radio. The workshop did not have any spare circuit board at all. Team Luigi gave up with trying fixing the walkie-talkie and tossed it in a garbage bin. They were truly cut from any communication with the outside world and could not go back to safer grounds and get another one. They had no time to waste. Team Luigi left the workshop and headed to Dark Crater. They had to find out what happened to their friend Gami and whatever was happening to him while he was unfolding.


	20. Chapter Black 2

**Chapter Black 2: The Dark Crater**

Navigating through the passages possibly leading to the Dark Crater was much worse than anything before. The darkness was much denser so Team Luigi could barely see a few feet away from them even with a flashlight. No light could pierce through such darkness so the group had to put their flashlights away and carry on blindly. As they ventured through the darkness, the members of Team Luigi discussed of their lost friend.

"Why would Gami hide this from us? Could he really be the Black Guardian?" Daisy asked.

"The way he reacted to it implied he may have theorized something about it but he did not want to believe it was true. Even if he told us, I doubt we would've been able to predict when he'd turn against us." Tatanga said.

Luigi stopped in his track and looked at his friends. The others stopped too. Luigi's friends were unsure of the oncoming. He could tell by their face being mixtures of fear and worry.

"What's wrong, honey? Why did you stop?" Daisy asked to her lover.

Luigi brought up about how such thing would never be told directly to Gami, that his father would never allow him to know about that. This infuriated Daisy, giving up on any fear and doubt she could have at the moment.

"OH! YOU BET I'M GONNA PUNCH THIS IGAMI TO THE SUN ONCE WE GET THERE! TO HIDE SUCH THINGS FROM YOUR CHILDREN IS UNACCEPTABLE!" She shouted.

"Sheesh! I've never seen you angry during that damsel-in-distress phase years ago." The alien pointed out.

"Yeah, I took some self-defence classes after that and they paid off very well. Have you heard of that time I punched Bowser to the moon?"

"You did? You're sure you weren't playing Super Smash Bros against him?"

Daisy pulled out her phone and scrolled through her photos until it showed a picture of an old journal article. The title read as follow.

"TO INFINITY AND BEYOND: BOWSER FOUND ON MOON WITH HUGE PUNCH MARK ON HIS CHEEK!"

It reminded Luigi of the good times of years ago and chuckled. The bat boy laughed out loud.

"I wish I was there when it happened instead of…" He began.

He then remembered of what he had been doing for years before it failed once again and backfired in his face. Daisy kneeled down and comforted him.

"Don't worry. You'll find someone. I'm sure of it." She told.

"But I wanted you." Tatanga cried.

"Shhhh. You can hop in my arms. I'll carry you on the way until the story ends."

Daisy took the alien in her arms and stood back up. She looked back at Luigi but forgot what they were doing right now.

"Wait! Where were we heading right now?" She asked.

Luigi showed a determined look and pointed at the unknown.

"Right! We need to find Gami. I don't care if he may be the Black Guardian but he's our friend and I won't leave anyone behind." Daisy said.

Team Luigi continued deep in the darkness. The corridors around opened up but the darkness did not allow anyone to determine if they were still in more but bigger corridors or in the Dark Crater. Luigi took one step but got scared when his feet went lower as usual. The path was going down. He warned the others about the slope. The others followed Luigi down the slope. The path became less and less steep until it went linear once again. It did take around an hour before it went back to the usual. The place they found themselves in was gigantic. They fended their way through the darkness until they came across a podium. It had a spherical socket in it. Luigi tried the orb in the podium. It fit perfectly and claws came out the podium to grab the orb. It fired a light beam upward and the darkness was slowing fading away. Once all gone, Team Luigi could finally see they indeed reached the Dark Crater. It was perfectly spherical with a few openings here and there and it gave an impressive view at the starry sky and the full moon.

"Hold up! What time is it? I don't recall it took us that long go get here." Tatanga pointed out.

Luigi and Daisy checked their wrist but realized they were not wearing watches. It was an old habit they forget to get rid of when they stopped wearing watches as they now had their phone to tell the time and do more. Luigi took his phone from his pocket and opened it. He showed his phone to his friend. It displayed it was one in the afternoon despite the sky being dark blue and filled with stars. No one could explain why it was nighttime here. Nonetheless, they looked at the sky and were amazed by the many stars up there. They sat down and looked at them. They thought perhaps the stars would lead them to the Black Origami Star. It proved to be true as white lines began connecting the stars to make a giant arrow pointing in a direction. Team Luigi stood up and headed forward to where the arrow was pointing but they stopped a few minutes later when they heard a roar. They looked around but did not find the source on ground level. They looked above at the border of the crater and spotted a shadowy silhouette far away. It jumped high in the air and landed right in front of the group. It was a giant black origami of what appeared to be a battle mech. It had a polygonal shaped dinosaur head with a long cannon on its right side and what looked like a barrel on its left side. The dinosaur head was standing on two tall legs. By its size, it was no doubt the Black Guardian. It roared once again and Team Luigi prepared for a fight against it. Tatanga did not have problem to damage the guardian at all with a photon launcher since most of his attack and equip cards dealt energy damage, a type of damage the Black Guardian was weak to. As for the other members of Team Luigi, they either dealt little damage with cards such as hammers or no damage with anything else. By anything else, Daisy only used a tennis racket but it was to plan a Tag Attack on the next turn. The Black Guardian proved to be a much tougher opponent than any other guardian. It would be obvious the White Guardian would be as strong as the Black Guardian which worried Team Luigi. They hoped that Ori was not the White Guardian like they suspected Gami to be the Black Guardian. It was the guardian's turn who aimed its long cannon at Tatanga. Luckily, the alien had something to counter the attack. He pulled out a Reflector card. The guardian fired a faster-than-light beam at him but the reflector caused the projectile to bounce and hit the guardian. It did damage the cannon and it seemed to be much more than anyone in the group could do but the cannon still looked intact. On the next turn, Tatanga equipped another photon launcher and was about to aim at the guardian until.

"Wait! Shoot at me! I can hit the projectile into the monster!" Daisy proposed.

"You're sure about this? We're talking about a projectile travelling at the speed of sound! You're crazy!" The alien pointed out.

"JUST DO IT!"

Without hesitation, the bat boy aimed at the princess. He was shaking intensively. He was afraid to either miss his shot thus wasting his turn or to harm the one he loved the most.

"Here goes nothing." He stuttered as he slowly pulled the trigger.

He was not ready to resist the recoil of his firearm so, when the projectile was fired, he was knocked back and fell on the ground. Fortunately, Daisy managed to hit the projectile with her tennis racket and sent it to the Black Guardian's body. It did more damage than normally firing at it but was still not enough. Since the guardian had so much armor, Luigi changed his strategy. He used a D-Down Pound card and hit the guardian with his hammer. Thanks to the card's property of ignoring defence, he did full damage to the monster but he only had very few of those cards since he did not predict he would face a heavily armored foe before. It was Daisy's turn and it just so happened she had her ultimate card in her hand, the Mega Punch card. This card was based on the punch she unleased on Bowser once to send him to the moon. She used it and went to punch the Black Guardian on a leg. It did not send him airborne but it made him slide a long way behind. The leg struggled to stay straight the Black Guardian took his turn to automatically repair damage to fully repair the leg. The fight against the Black Guardian continued. The guardian showed a new attack by opening the barrel-like component on the left side of its head. Inside, there were many holes and those holes fired a barrage of missiles at Team Luigi who either used defense cards to negate any effect those missiles could have on them or at least block them to only receive damage. But then, something that never happened before had to happen now. Team Luigi ran out of cards to play against the Black Guardian.

"I thought they said the cards were reusable!" Tatanga said.

"No, they are but I think we can't use them again in a battle!" Daisy said.

"Either way, we're lost!

Luigi put Tatanga on his back and took Daisy by the hand and tried to run away from the Black Guardian. The guardian did not even have to pursue his prey. It aimed its long cannon at the group and fired another beam. Though it was not a direct hit, it certainly stopped the group from running away as they got sent away and fallen down on the ground. Smoke from the impact of the beam with the ground prevented anyone to see far away. Just when they thought they were done for, they heard something that certainly did not come from the guardian.

"Hello? Anyone here?" A familiar voice spoke.

From the smoke emerged a familiar silhouette. It was Petey. The group was more than glad to see him here.

"What's happening around here?" Petey asked.

Luigi stood back up and pointed through the smoke fading away to reveal the Black Guardian once again. He looked back a Petey and asked his help to defeat their opponent but did not notice the guardian firing a barrage of missile at them. Petey used his leaves to cover his friends from the attack. All the missiles went at him. The others were worried but the plant giant plant was barely injured.

"Don't worry guys. It'll take much more than that to take me down." The plant reassured.

Since the group no longer had cards to play against the guardian, they had no choice but to let Petey fight it all alone. Though Petey was able to damage the guardian, it would not be enough to beat it before it beat him first. The guardian chose to attack with a leg but Petey deflected it with a Hammering Headbutt card. On the next turn, Tatanga pointed his raygun at Petey. It was his normal attack if he did not have any card to play. Luigi saw him and tried to stop him.

"Trust me! I know what I'm doing!" The alien shouted.

He fired his raygun at Petey. Because Petey was too big, he did not take damage but the color on his head and his swimsuit changed from red to purple. Since Luigi and Daisy were not in the Mossy Swamp when the mutation happened, they were both surprised to see this. This gave Petey the idea to unleash a Whirlwind card against the Black Guardian. The combination of wind and electricity dealt massive damage on the guardian who had to drop off his arsenal for having been rendered out of use. Though it could have seemed the battle was over, the Black Guardian reshaped itself with what was left of his body and turned into another war machine. This new form boasted more sophisticated weaponry. It now had a force field surrounding its body protecting it against energy damage. Petey did not have many other cards he could use to fight the newly reincarnated guardian. He tried a Goop Shot card against the guardian but it did not do much aside spreading goop on its legs. The guardian had little to do with some mud on his legs and fired at him with two Vulcan cannons. Something the guardian was not aware of is that the goop got on the ground and it is known to be slippery. The recoil from the two Vulcan cannons pushed the guardian backward and, when there was no more goop to where it was being pushed, it fell on his back. The fall caused significant to the guardian but was still not enough. Petey put his leaves in front of his face because he was receiving some dust from the impacts of the projectiles on the ground. Little did he know he made the same exact move that caused him to turn into an origami. Much like last time, the white border around Petey's body grew into a sheet of paper and began folding. Luigi and Daisy were scared since they were not there when Petey first transformed but Tatanga was excited. When the transformation was over, Petey became an origami once again. The others hopped on his head. It was now a fight on equal foot between Petey and the Black Guardian but the guardian was severely injured from all the attacks it received recently. It did not take much now for Petey to finish it. He just used his head to smash the guardian into the ground. The Black guardian unfolded itself and shrank in size. Petey reverted to normal and the group went to see the guardian becoming Gami. The paper plane woke up and looked at his friends.

"… Why did you fight me? Why didn't you ignore me?" He whispered in a weak tone.

He was severely bruised so Luigi attended to his wounds as best as he could. The others helped him too but they would have to meet someone who actually knew how to treat an origami. Luigi then brought up he would never leave a friend behind, a statement everyone else in Team Luigi agreed. Gami was ashamed of his actions. He slowly left the ground, clumsily hovering around as he did not fully recover, and looked at his friends.

"I never wanted to believe I was the Black Guardian. The idea on its own disturbed me too much and I had nightmares of Ori being the White Guardian." He said.

The others had nothing to tell him. They understood such theory or truth would have been better off forgotten or hidden as they were too frightening to be real or believed.

"Never mind. I remember now where I put the Black Origami Star. Let's go get it. And, hey Petey. What brought you here?" Gami asked.

"Your sister got worried something happened to you so she sent me to check on you guys." Petey brought up.

"She did well to do so. Without you, I'd be afraid that…"

He stopped. The sole thought of harming his friends sickened him and brushed it away. He navigated into the Dark Crater with his friends until he came across an opening. Inside, it was like someone's bedroom. The star was lying on the bed. Luigi pointed out how it would have been easy for anyone to take it away.

"I do understand your point, Luigi, but the dense darkness that usually invades the crater makes it impossible to find this place. Plus, you'd have to be very strong to carry such artifact with ease if you didn't have magic." Gami explained.

He went to the star and shrank it to the size of the badge. He hoped Ori managed to get hers but feared she may have fought their friends in the White Region. Luigi also pointed out the unusual presence of a bedroom in a crater.

"This is my private room, a place where father would never find me. I always invited my sister here. It was like a backup plan if father ever thought of meeting me in the Black Region, a place where I could be whoever I wanted without his presence forcing me to be the exact opposite of my sister." Gami lamented.

Now that the group was done with the Black Region, Petey pulled out his walkie-talkie.

"Hello? Hello!" He first said in it.

"Petey? What's going on?" Ori's voice said with a weaker tone.

Team Luigi was shocked to hear Ori's voice. With what just happened to Gami, they expected the same thing to have happened to her.

"I found the others. Everyone's fine here." Petey declared.

You did? You really found back everyone? Can you pass them?" Ori's voice asked.

"Hey!" Daisy yelled.

"Can we just go?" Tatanga lamented.

"Hey…" Gami said in a weak tone.

"Did you find the Black Origami Star?" Ori's voice asked.

"We have it with us. Did you get the white one?" Gami replied.

"Yeah… Let's just get to the Iron Fortress. We now have everything to confront father."

And so, Team Luigi left the Dark Crater and headed to the Grey Region with one last goal in mind: to find out what was happening inside the Silver Palace. All that happened to them in their journey, the origamis becoming feral, the grey substance spreading, the guardians shifting into their strongest form against their will, they sought the answer to all these anomalies. The end was near but no one knew what to expect.


	21. Chapter Grey 1

**GREY CHAPTERS: REVELATIONS**

 **Chapter Grey 1: Iron Fortress**

Team Luigi was the first group to leave its respective region. They were glad they would no longer have to navigate through the crater after everything they had been through especially being forced to fight one of their newly-made friends. As they left the Black Region, they were welcomed by a depressing grey sky and a lonesome road leading to a fork. They could also see what seemed to be a city and a building floating above it. Team Luigi walked to the fork and rested. A few minutes later, Team Mario and many other people, the rest of the koopalings, joined them from the other road that led to the White Region. Gami was surprised to see the others but not the airship.

"What happened to the airship?" He asked the group.

"I broke it." Ori embarrassedly answered.

"Well, at least, you're all here. That's what counts the most. So…"

"Where are the guardians? I thought they would meet us here."

"Maybe they meant near the Silver Palace."

"I don't like the sound of it."

Ori turned around to face Mario. She was discouraged by the current situation. Nothing seemed to be as planned: The guardians' absence, Ori and Gami being controlled against their will, no one knew what was waiting for them inside the city.

"Mario, what do you think we should do? Do you think Gami may be right and the guardians will meet us closer to the Silver Palace?" Ori asked.

Mario first nodded to decline. The guardians would pick a safe place for a meeting and since the city was right below the Silver Palace, from where the grey substance could have originated, it would be obvious the city would be under the grey substance's influence. However, he did not have any idea where the guardians would be… not yet. He first pointed at the gate inside the wall surrounding the city.

"You think they entered the Iron Fortress and found someplace safe to meet? Let's take a look inside first." Ori concluded.

The large group marched toward the gate but something felt wrong. No one was at the gate to welcome them. Some people in the group felt a despicable feeling and trembled. Those who were not feeling it tried their best to reassure but in vain. The feeling was too strong. It demoralized some but did not pitch anyone against each other. They all stood at the foot of the imposingly tall gate. Only Petey was able to move the door but still needed some help like from Roy and Morton. The gate slowly opened and, once everyone could see inside, they witnessed the scenery in shock. This kingdom that proudly stood where Lord Igami reigned was reduced to ruins of their former glory. Buildings, even destroyed beyond recognition, slowly kept decaying as threatening and massive origamis of monsters and war machines patrolled down the heavily degraded streets. Many crumbs of grey paper lied all around the place. Though they only seemed like torn sheets of papers, the group grunted in disgust to the idea that these used to be living inhabitants of the Iron Fortress. Some of them stumbled across the pain those poor souls went through before being cast away from life. Ori and Gami just moved forward but Ori landed on the ground. She was completely devastated to see her first home reduced to nothing.

"Ori, I understand you want to give up but hear me out: If we give up now, more cities will suffer the same fate as the Iron Fortress. Think about what's happening in Miitropolis!" The paper plane pointed out.

The swan stood back up and looked back at her friend, more determined to put an end to this nightmare once and for all, more than anyone in the group.

"Listen up! With all the feral origamis in town, we can't go all together to the Silver Palace right now. We need to find a way to get rid of those before we proceed. We'll take the same team as before while the others stay here." Ori explained.

Team Mario first entered the city and went to the right side. Their group spotted a grey origami of a gray tank rolling down on piles of torn sheets of paper. They sneaked around through the building to get as close as they could to the tank. They hid inside a destroyed barber shop and Mario looked at Birdo.

"You want me to do something, sweetie?" Birdo asked.

Mario made some gestures with his arms. His first set was him flailing his arms from up to sides to down. His second set was like throwing something. Birdo understood what Mario meant and looked in her deck of cards. She pulled out a cannonball card and Mario approved.

"Alright, sweetie. Let's do this!" Birdo exclaimed.

She slowly left the building and aimed her funnel mouth at the tank driving away. She took a deep breath and used her card to fire the cannonball at the origami. She ran back inside as the projectile exploded on the tank. The machine slowly rotated its cannon toward the barber shop. Team Mario suspected it would fire at the building in retaliation even if it did not see anyone. Mario stepped outside and prepared a Tanooki Tail card to wear ears and tails. The tank fired a projectile at high speed but Mario deflected it back at the origami. The projectile blew up on the tank causing the turret to fly up and fall back down on the streets. That was one feral origami down but Team Mario had more work to do as another tank origami showed up to investigate on the current situation. It spotted Mario but had to rotate its turret to aim at the plumber. The others left the building to help their friend. Larry first created a smokescreen to help the other move to a safer place. The tank, unable to target anyone, charged at the smokescreen only to ram into the building in decay. It got stuck inside as debris fell on it and held it on place. Team Mario looked in their Item Cards and found a Bob-ombs which they slid under the tank. The bomb blew up the origami into pieces. This part of the Iron Fortress was ridden of any feral origami so Team Mario looked around to see if there was someplace the guardians could have gone hiding. They spotted a cathedral far away, standing under the Silver Palace. Team Mario hurried to cathedral.

Team Luigi found themselves in a park filled with many origamis of rhinos and hippos. Though they were not as dangerous as the war machines Team Mario had to fight, those monsters could still be trouble for Team Luigi. Plus, the park had no building inside so it was impossible for the group to hide and perform hit-and-run tactics on the monsters. Team Luigi carefully set up a plan to lure the origamis into an empty swimming pool on the other side of the park. Luigi first looked at Daisy.

"What is it, darling?" She asked with a smile.

Luigi made some gesture to order her to make enough noise to attract the origamis' attention.

"Leave it to me! I know how!" Daisy added.

Luigi brought Gami and Tatanga behind some bushes still standing despite the park's conditions. From there, they watched as Daisy went to a fallen down tree and punched it to make it roll toward the origamis. The origamis moved aside to avoid the tree and got caught in panic. They frantically ran around in the park, something no one expected to happen. Nonetheless, the origamis regained their calm and chased after Daisy. Luigi looked at Tatanga.

"What?" The alien just said.

Luigi pointed the ground a few feet away from them. The bat boy first looked at where the plumber pointed but did not have an idea right now. It was only when he looked back at Daisy and all the origamis chasing her in the park something came in his mind.

"Alright. I know what you mean." He said to Luigi.

He pulled out many cards from his decks and laid down round devices on the floor. Luigi helped him bury the devices and waved at Daisy to come over here. Daisy ran to them and the group ran away from the bush in a way that the origamis would have to go through the buried minefield. Many origamis got caught in the mines but a few of them managed to avoid the field in time. The number of feral origamis was now reduced to something more conventional to go against directly. Team Luigi wiped out the remaining origamis with their cards and moved on. The rest of their side of the Iron Fortress was clean of any feral origamis but Team Luigi spotted a cathedral standing under the Silver Palace. Having nowhere else to go, Team Luigi headed there.

The two teams met up at the entrance of the cathedral. Both teams were surprised the other team managed to get rid of the origamis of their side. Though, it was a welcoming change for both. They were about to head inside the cathedral until another group of origamis flew down. Those were grey like the others and looked like gargoyles. Those monsters had both teams surrounded and cornered. The group was ready for battle but the giant door leading inside the cathedral opened and the brown guardian showed up.

"Wait! Those are our friends!" The brown guardian brought up.

Everyone looked at each other. The gargoyles unfolded themselves and became smaller versions. The group looked at the brown guardian.

"What are you doing here? I thought we were supposed to meet outside." Ori asked.

"When we saw the grey cloud hovering above the Rainbow Continent, we went all around the island to evacuate as many people as we could and took shelter in the cathedral." The guardian replied.

"What do you mean evacuate?"

"See by yourselves."

The guardian escorted the group inside the cathedral. The group was surprised to see who was inside. Misses Roseworth ran to Daisy to hug her.

"Mistress Rosetool, thank goodness you're fine!" The flower said.

Wart was also among those already inside the cathedral and ran to Birdo to take her in his arms.

"My sweetie! This is horrible! All those people back in the Flaxen City, they turned against each other but thanks to your origami friends I'm safe." The giant frog said.

Dorrie too was among the group and went to Mario. She gently rubbed her head on his to reassure she was alright. Even the people working at the Los Memoriam Café were here and they all went to see Petey.

"Petey! We were so worried about you when we saw the big grey cloud!" Huey brought up.

"Thank goodness those origamis took us somewhere safe. Without them, I can't even imagine the horrible things I would've done to my friends." Timpani said.

"It seems the situation is far worse than we thought. Let's hope we can undo all of this." Blumiere hoped.

Last but least, Mr. Toadsworth was here and walked to the Mario brothers.

"Mario, Luigi! You've finally arrived. I wasn't in the Rainbow Continent at all but your origami friends thought well to bring me here." The old toad said.

Everyone gathered up around the origamis, awaiting the next move that would be the final one. Ori first approached Mario.

"Mario, I want to thank you for being here with us all along. I know you already saved the world many times all by yourselves but I fear this time we'll need help. I don't know if all of you here will be enough but we have to try. So, Mario, do you still want to go inside the Silver Palace?" Ori asked.

Mario nodded without any hesitation.

"Once we go inside, we make sure to do our job. If you're short on items or cards, you may want to travel somewhere to resupply first then come back here because, once inside, we're not leaving until we end this once and for all." Ori pointed out.

Mario nodded again. He was ready for everything. He was dedicated to save the princess or find out she could be in another place. Anyway, he had to get inside the Silver Palace. Ori looked at everyone else.

"Are you all ready to go in?!" She screamed.

The crowd cheered. Everyone was on her side. To her, it felt like she was reborn. She no longer had to hide anything. She no longer had to lie to anyone. Everyone would believe her even if the truth could sound unbelievable. The guardians went to the back of the church which was completely open. The crowd saw that the Silver Palace was in fact floating far away from any civilization over what seemed like a black hole below. This part of the world had no sea, only emptiness. Each guardian used their Origami Star which they took back from their royal friends. Together, the guardians built a rainbow bridge that extended to the small island the Silver Palace was standing on. Everyone could feel the end was near but no one knew how it would end. Would they be wiped out of existence? Would they have to beat Lord Igami once and for all? Nonetheless, the crowd was amazed at the bridge linking the Silver Palace with the rest of the Rainbow Continent. The crowd slowly followed the origamis on the bridge, anxious to meet Lord Igami for the first time.


	22. Chapter Grey 2

**Chapter Grey 2: The Silver Palace**

It was a tedious and painfully long walk just to get to the Silver Palace. Many people in the crowd grew exhausted of the walk but their determination of supporting their friends as well as their fear of falling down into the void pushed them to their limits. As they approached the palace, no one expected it to be gigantic. The Silver Palace could have been a city on its own with its sheer size. Once arrived at the floating island, there was enough ground to not have anyone standing on the rainbow but it was very barely. Ori looked back at the rainbow that slowly vanished, leaving the crowd on the island with the Silver Palace. There was no turning back now. She looked further but all she saw was a dense grey fog. It took over what was left of the Rainbow Continent and certainly everything beyond. She went to the giant doors leading inside the palace with her brother and the Mario brothers. It was not a very hard door to open. After all, the Silver Palace was left untouched by any form of war that happened on the Rainbow Continent and anywhere else. As the doors slowly opened, the ground shook. People grabbed each other to not have anyone fall down into the void below. It was a good thing the doors opened to the inside. Otherwise, there would be no place for the crowd to move away safely. Once the doors open, the crowd carefully made their way inside. A few grey origamis of guards stood in the vast empty hall but no one minded the crowd's presence.

"Home sweet home…" Ori whispered.

"It's been a while, and nothing changed. That's unbelievable." Gami said.

The two royal origamis looked back at the Mario brothers.

"So, where should we go first?" Ori asked to her plumber friends.

Neither Mario nor Luigi had an idea. It was their first time inside the Silver Palace but just this would not make them hesitant. They had been to many places together for the first time but, back then, they had an idea of where to go. Here and now, they just no longer had that idea. They looked around and headed into the first corridor they found. They were expecting some form of resistance in here but the guards just stood still, completely ignoring the crowd as if they were frozen in time. The crowd followed behind like a herd of sheep. They too did not know any better than anyone. Echoes of a child laughing caught everyone's attention. Those echoes came from far into the palace. The crowd slightly increased their pace and walked down the many corridors. It would be baffling if they remembered which corridors they had already been into as they all looked the same. Eventually, Mario took a turn to the left and saw the source of those echoes. He could not believe his eyes and, when the rest of the crowd could finally see into the corridor, no one else could either. It was Bower Jr, the prince of the koopas. The child was far away in the corridor playing with a toy plane that bore similar colors and patterns with his clown kart. The prince heard all the footsteps and suddenly stopped. He first looked at the crowd then ran away as if he was afraid. The child ran into maybe another corridor or a room but the angle from which Mario was looking at the whole situation prevented him to judge properly. He just carried on and tried to follow the child, along with the crowd. He ended up at a cross junction where he no longer had any idea of where to go. One wrong direction could end up in him and the rest of his friends getting lost in those corridors forever. He was about to foolishly go in a direction until…

"They're here! They finally made it!" A child's voice echoed.

It came through the right direction. Mario and the others immediately went that way and they saw an open door leading to a room. Mario went to the door and looked inside the room. He was completely baffled this time. All the friends he thought in need of a rescue, his lover, his arch nemesis and the prince, were all in that exact room safe and sound. There was a giant bed with Bowser lying down in it. The koopa king was still looking ill but his condition seemed to be significantly better than when Mario could see him through Larry's phone back in Tangerino Resort. The princess was right next to him rubbing a soaked towel on the king's forehead. She stopped when she saw Mario.

"Why did you stop, princess?" Bowser asked, unaware as he had his eyes closed.

"Mario!" The princess screamed in rejoice.

The big koopa suddenly opened his eyes and leaned his body toward the door. Everyone was surprised at each other. As Bowser began getting off bed, Peach ran around the bed and picked up a pair of clutches she gave to him. It was obvious whatever Bowser caught weakened him for quite a long time as he needed assistance to walk back on his feet. Mario went to see his old friends. He tilted his head, confused to see them safe and sound.

"Mario, good to see you!" Bowser greeted.

"I don't know why but… This Lord Igami, I don't think he's aware of what he's doing right now. Sometimes, he goes out to destroy places and kidnap key people but, most of the times, he's in his throne room doing absolutely nothing. And I'm not counting the many times he kept mumbling to himself." Peach explained.

"Speak for yourself. The guy cured me better than a certain royal advisor. But yeah. This Igami's a real weirdo." Bowser brought up.

The two royal origamis entered the room and met the others. Peach looked at the white swan.

"Who are you?" The princess asked.

"I'm Princess Ori. I was supposed to be at the ceremony that would've taken place at your castle days ago. And this is my brother, Prince Gami." Ori presented.

"So that means Igami is your father."

The swan felt disgusted by the idea of Lord Igami being her father. She just nodded and looked away, unwilling to look directly at anyone.

"Let's just get this over with." She added as she left the room.

Everyone followed her through the corridors. Since she was one of the two people to know the place in their group, the others just let her guide them. It took much less time to return to the main hall than it took to get to the room to meet with those they thought in danger. Ori led everyone to another giant double door at the end of the main hall. She looked back at Mario who had been following right behind her all along.

"Mario… This is it. You will face your biggest obstacle in here so be prepared. I'm not planning to go in there just to see you getting beaten by this thing!" Ori warned.

"Ori! That's our father you're talking about." Gami pointed out.

"You still have the audacity to call this abomination our father!? He's gone for me! You're not the one who stayed here in hope things would change for the better! You cowered out!"

"Hey! I went looking for the answer elsewhere!"

"As if you would've found it far away from its source!"

Their conversation devolved into a dispute and no one else had time to listen to that. Mario jumped in to interrupt the origamis and pointed at the giant door.

"Fine… Let's get in." Ori sighed.

Mario went to the giant door and slowly opened it. The doors loudly creaked as they opened toward the next room. Once done, everyone saw it was the throne room but something was not right. A huge chunk at the end was missing and, as opposed to the cathedral which was a natural architectural design choice, it looked like someone torn it apart. The only thing inside was this giant grey dragon origami that only the upper half was visible. It was too big to fit in the room. The dragon was leaning inside the throne room with its arms resting on the floor. With its golden eyes, it looked forward but not necessarily at the crowd. It did not even react to the presence of a huge amount of people in his room. The crowd moved in as there was enough space for it. Mario and the friends he had been travelling with were in front of the rest of the crowd and slowly walked to the dragon. Mario looked back at Ori.

"You know what to do, Mario." She just said.

The plumber had no idea what she meant. He looked back at the dragon but the dragon did nothing. Was it alive? Mario went to one of its hands and touched it. It did not move at all. There was no reaction from the giant origami. He then went in front of its face and waved at it. The golden eyes looked at Mario. It seemed to have worked but why did it take so long for the dragon to notice anyone's presence? Mario's friends decided to do the same. First, Tatanga approached the dragon. He did not draw any futuristic gizmo.

"Huh, hey! I'm Tatanga, some alien guy from space. So, like that, you're the guy who created everything, right?" The alien asked.

"What are you doing?" Ori coldly asked.

The dragon sluggishly leaned its head downward. Its movements felt artificial as if it was a robot. It kept slowly raising and lowering its head afterward.

"I'll take it as a yes then." The bat boy concluded.

He backed up a little bit and Larry approached the dragon.

"Hey! I'm Larry, captain of Bowser's royal guards and the Zombie Heartbreaker. Glad to meet the man who does everything." He flirted.

"Is that a joke to all of you!?" Ori berated.

The dragon did not blush but did move its lips to form what seemed to be a smile. Though, since there were not many visual cues, it was hard to tell if he was touched by Larry said. The koopaling stepped back and Birdo advanced.

"Hello! I'm Birdo, a famous singer from a distant kingdom. I love to sing. Would you like to hear me sing?" she asked.

"You're standing in front of the thing that is destroying your world and the only thing you wish for is to befriend it!?" Ori pointed out.

The giant dragon slowly nodded. His movement slowly became more and more fluid but it still seemed artificial. As Birdo sang her song, which had no lyrics, the dragon slowly followed its notes with its head. Once her performance over, Birdo stepped back to let Daisy in front.

"Hey! I'm Daisy, princess of Sarasaland!" The princess greeted while having her hands at the dragon.

"Why… why are you not fighting it?" Ori asked.

The swan became more and more lost as she witnessed the dragon did not attack anyone on first sight. At that moment, there was not really a need to fight it but she wanted to understand why the violent way was not the first mindset her friends had. The dragon just looked at Daisy.

"Come on! Can't you be more enthusiast than that! Lemme show you how!" Daisy brought up as she approached one of the dragon's massive hands.

Ori feared for her. Maybe that would be the last drop on the dragon's patience. Daisy grabbed one of the fingers with both hands and shook it up and down. The dragon moved the hand which surprised the crowd. With its fingers, the dragon tried to grab Daisy's hand but they were too big. In the end, the dragon managed to grab Daisy's hands with two fingers and shook hand.

"That's the spirit!" Daisy concluded as she returned among her friends.

Petey was the last to not have said anything to the dragon. He slowly walked to it. Even though the plant was big, he was nowhere nearly as big as the dragon that could not even fit its body inside the throne room.

"Um hi! I'm Petey, just some plant!" The plant first said.

This caught the dragon's attention who then stared at Petey. Ori chose not to say anything. She saw how pointless it was to object when her friends seemed to have found a better way to confront the dragon.

"You know. I've been travelling with your kids Ori and Gami and we even invented a game together. We call it The Ori Game." Petey joked.

The dragon slowly chuckled. The crowd was surprised once again by this. The giant beast then raised its head and looked right at the royal origamis.

"ORI… GAMI…" The beast spoke with its powerful voice.

The words echoed through the massive room. Both Ori and Gami were shocked to hear their name from this thing. They slowly moved through the crowd and went to the dragon. Ori was shredding a tear.

"Father?" She said.

"ORI… GAMI… HELP…" The dragon spoke.

"What do you need help for?" Gami asked.

The dragon then unleashed a terrified scream that forced the crowd to step back and be cornered at the walls near the entrance. Only the Mario brothers and those who travelled with them all along remained near the creature.

"Father, what's wrong?" Ori asked, worried.

She put her head on the dragon's body because she thought she heard something mumbling inside. She was violently sent away but Mario caught her before she went further. Gami was horrified by what just happened.

"What's happening to you, father!?" Gami screamed.

The paper plane tried to look behind the dragon but saw nothing. What could have possibly sent Ori away in such manner? Like everyone else, he looked back at the creature. He came to the realization that something was inside the dragon and trying to burst its way out. This proved to be true as the dragon violently sent its body forward as if something hit it from behind. No one knew what to do. It happened a few times until its body began fissuring. A dense dark grey substance slowly dripped from the wound. More and more of this substance made its way out and the wound grew bigger. At some point, the substance materialized into fingers and grabbed after the wound from inside the dragon's body. It tore open the dragon's body, revealing more of the substance inside the dragon. The dragon was no longer moving. There was so much of it no one could see the heart. The fingers then became tentacle-like arms that extended far from the body. Now was the time to fight as Mario and friends pulled out their deck of cards. Though, no one expected the Substance to be living as it roared powerfully. Its roar caused the decks to fly away. Our heroes did not have much to fight the Substance with. Nonetheless, they had to fight it. Tatanga was about to aim his default laser firearm at the Substance but a grey gooey arm slammed itself into the alien, knocking it out in a single hit. The alien was still breathing but could no longer move.

"Why keep on… I'm no one anyway…" Tatanga bid before fainting.

Despair slowly began making its way through the others but no one wanted to give up to such disgusting feeling. Larry held his breath to prepare a fireball but the Substance grabbed him and slammed him on a wall. After that, the koopaling struggled to stand up, heavily wounded by the powerful attack.

"Your highness… I failed you…" Larry cried before falling on the ground.

Despair fastened up its pace but our heroes kept fighting against the feeling. Birdo aimed her funnel mouth at the Substance to fire an egg but the Substance punched her with an imposing gooey fist. The dinosaur was sent on a wall to the left and struggled to move.

"Oops… There's nothing I could do…" Birdo lamented before giving up on fighting back.

Despair already began consuming what was left of anyone's hope but our heroes did not want to give up, not after having done so much to prepare for this finale. Daisy went to the Substance and was about to punch it but the Substance just had to slam one of its powerful hands on her. She was knocked down and tried so hard to stand back up but her body did not want to suffer anymore.

"No… Why can't I keep on…" She said before finally accepting her fate.

Despair was almost done with the few hope left but our heroes would not let it take over anyone. Petey prepared his leafy arms but the Substance grabbed the giant by the head and slammed him into the floor. Petey was lying down but was still awake but not for too long.

"That's not funny… That's not…" He whispered before letting himself be consumed by despair.

Only Mario and Luigi stood there in front of the imposing Substance that fought and beat five people by itself with only one attack. Mario signed Luigi to go in the crowd. He did not want anything to happen to his little brother. The Substance extended its gooey body outside the dragon's body and went in contact with Mario's fallen friends. Ori and Gami tried to fight the Substance and pull their friends away but the Substance had little to do from small origamis. It just flicked them away and continued consuming the fallen ones. Everyone looked on horror as the Substance completely engulfed the fallen ones with its gooey body. A few seconds after, the fallen ones slowly rose up from the substance but they were just piles of substance. Their eyes, however, glowed yellow and stared at Mario. The piles of substance moved forward the lonesome plumber. Ori and Gami joined Mario who looked at them.

"I guess this is the end, Mario. I'm sorry." Ori said.

"Don't sweat it, Ori. Who could've ever predicted such thing was powerful. Its power goes beyond our comprehension." Gami said.

However, Mario still had one card in his hand. He showed it to the origamis. It was the card of the salamander they caught back on the Hop Pepper Ashlands.

"It's just one card, Mario. I doubt it'll…" Ori began."

She suddenly stopped. She slowly raised her head and looked at the crowd. She looked in her inventory and found a deck of bland cards. She then looked back at the card then Gami.

"Ori?" Gami worryingly asked.

"I think I have an idea but you have to trust me." Ori declared.

"Okay but what do we do?"

Ori went to the crowd. Everyone was confused.

"Everyone, I need you to pose! Don't question me! Just do it!" Ori ordered.

People in the crowd looked at each other but took some space to perform different stance. It was not good enough for Ori. She noticed the doubt in the crowd and some people in the crowd were shaking. The swan had to do something or her plan could be as efficient as she wanted it to be.

"Show dedication! Show passion! Show determination! Do you want to save your friends and the world!?" Ori asked.

Her words of encouragement proved to work as the doubt among the crowd faded away. Everyone made a pose that reflected their personality. Ori looked at the guardians. She gave each guardian a few bland cards and some more to Gami. She kept the rest to herself.

"Guardians! Surround the crowd!" Ori ordered.

The guardians placed themselves around the people. Gami went on the opposite of Ori.

"On my mark! One! Two! Three! CIRCLE!" Ori shouted.

The origamis flew at an incredible speed around the crowd.

"NOW! Throw the cards at them!" Ori ordered.

All the origamis dropped their cards into the crowd. Each person touched by a bland card was sucked into the card. Once everyone into the crowd was turned into cards, Ori picked them all up and took a quick look at them. She was satisfied of the results. The other origamis cheered up as this would certainly help Mario against the Substance. Speaking of him, he was getting surrounded by the piles of substance.

"Quickly, we must help Mario!" Gami brought up.

"Just one more thing. Gami, come with me." Ori said.

Gami was not sure what else his sister was planning. The two royal origamis went back to Mario. Ori grabbed him by the hat.

"Gami, I need you to grab the other side." Ori asked.

"But what are you…" Gami began.

"NOW, GAMI!"

The paper plane nervously nodded and grabbed Mario by the shoes.

"Okay, what now?" Gami asked.

"PULL!" Ori shouted.

They both pulled Mario in different directions. The white border around his image stretched into a giant sheet of paper. Ori folded the sheet in many ways until she obtained a giant origami version of Mario. Mario was able to move on his own.

"Now, Mario!" Ori ordered.

With his new powers, Mario stomped on the Substance that tried to take over the floor of the throne room. The sheer power of this single stomp forced the Substance to retreat back inside the dragon's body. As it returned inside the dragon, the people it took over were released and back to their sense. Though they were injured, the ones who had been travelling with Mario were not eager to give up now. They all joined back the plumber and Ori gave each of them some cards of their best friends.

"Those shouldn't fly away. Believe me. Now, finish this once and for all!" Ori declared.

Everyone let out a scream of hope and prepared once again to fight the Substance. The Substance roared once again but was unable to strip anyone from their cards. With that, Mario's friends performed Tag Attack with their own cards while Mario himself summoned a gigantic hammer to fight the Substance. Every card used reverted to a person that stayed behind to cheer up on the ones fighting the Substance. Every hit caused the Substance to shrink until it became smaller than the dragon's heart. At some point, Mario lost his powers and reverted to normal but something unexpected happened. The dragon was still alive. It slowly raised an arm and grabbed the Substance. It tried to peel it off. Everyone understood what the dragon was trying to do and helped it peel the Substance off the heart. Ori just looked at the many people trying to save her father from whatever was this Substance. She used her origami powers to shift into a giant falcon and grabbed the Substance with its mouth. Everyone pulled as much as they could and eventually managed to peel the Substance off. With no more to lash on to, the substance vanished by itself.


	23. Epilogue

**Epilogue: Last Request**

As soon as the Substance was defeated, everyone realised they were pulling on thin and thus fell on the ground. While everyone slowly woke up, Ori, one of the few who did not fall down, reverted to normal and went to check on the dragon. It was not moving which worried her. The wound was still present on its body. Ori just took a look inside to see the heart. She saw the heart completely petrified. She shredded a single tear and looked behind. Everyone was back on their feet and looked at her. When they saw the swan saddened, they let out a small gasp. Though, the royal origami lightened up.

"It's alright. I'm sure that's what father would've wanted instead of…" She said.

Just the thought of the Substance disgusted her. Gami went to her.

"It's okay, Ori. Whatever that thing was, it's gone now." He reassured.

The crowd cheered for their victory all together. Ori and Gami looked at the people celebrating. They saw Mario and Luigi high-fiving each other.

"Brothers…" Ori whispered.

The plumbers went to see Peach, Daisy and Bowser. Mario got a kiss from Peach while Luigi got one from Daisy.

"Lovers…" Ori whispered.

Bowser took both Mario and Luigi in his arms. After all, he was quite big and could manage to pull out such thing.

"Childhood friends…" Ori whispered.

Bowser then let the plumbers go when he heard a voice calling him. It was his son the prince who jumped in his arms.

"Family…" Ori whispered.

The prince then jumped off his father's arms when Larry came by to report of their success. The prince climbed the koopaling and sat on the shoulders. Larry took him for a ride around as the other koopalings followed him.

"Colleagues…" Ori whispered.

As Larry passed by Birdo and Wart, Ori decided to look at those two who were discussing of the potential to turn such event into a memorable piece of media, whether it would be a play or a song. Petey went to them when he heard the word play. His presence felt as welcoming as a mother walking in holding a pie in front of her children.

"Business partners…" Ori whispered.

"In the end, those are all our best friends, our allies, one way or another." Gami said.

Though Gami sounded optimistic, something still bothered his sister which did not take long for him to notice it.

"Ori? What's wrong? We saved the world. Why aren't you happy?" Gami asked.

"We did not. We were too late." Ori whispered.

This sudden reality check hit Gami's joy pretty hard to the point it completely vanished. He looked down, unsure what to do now. If she was right, the world as everyone knew was no more but he knew no solution to reverse the destruction caused by the substance. He looked back at his sister.

"What are we gonna do?" He asked.

Ori did not say anything to him directly. She went to the crowd that suddenly stopped cheering and celebrating when she got close.

"Everyone, I would like to thank you all for having been here with us and helping us defeat whatever this thing was. However, I don't think that you all know this but… There is no more world." Ori announced.

Everyone gasped. They were all lost. Where would they go now?

"Do not worry. We can rebuild your world exactly like how it was before all of this ever happened. However…" Ori added.

As Ori began hesitating, Gami knew exactly what would happen next. He went to his sister who just looked at him.

"Ori. Since it'll be our last time with them, you should thank them personally. I'll gather the other guardians and you'll give us a sign when you're ready." Gami said.

Ori first went to Birdo, the first person that agreed to help her once she set foot on the Rainbow Continent.

"You're leaving us for real?" Birdo asked, disheartened.

"I have to. If I don't, where will you and the others go?" Ori asked back.

"I understand. You won't be forgotten. I promise you. We'll speak of you forever."

Those words saddened Ori who moved on to say goodbye to another person. Next was Daisy. She remembered when both Daisy and Mario bumped into each other back in Flaxen City.

"Ori. I wanted to say I'm sorry for doubting you. I should've suspected from the beginning Peach was here." The princess apologised.

"You don't need to. I hid so many things from you and the others because I feared no one would follow me if I told them the truth." Ori said.

"Still. If Peach was in another castle, at least we would've still done well by helping you father find peace."

Ori began crying. She moved on and went to see Tatanga. Memories of the spaceship flowed through her head.

"Don't look at me like that. You're making me cry too. And, I'm sorry for that thing back at the resort." The alien said.

"No… You did right. If it wasn't for you, I would've never found the courage to tell the truth. Thank you for this and for having tagged along with us. And good luck with Daisy." Ori replied.

"Yeah… I'm gonna need it."

Ori moved to see Larry. She was unable to look straight at him with how much she was crying. She felt the finger gently scratching under her mouth even though no one was close enough to her.

"So it has to be like that, heh? Can't you look into my eyes?" Larry asked.

"I'm sorry. I don't want you to see me crying." Ori cried.

"It's okay. Look at me and smile one more time."

Ori raised her head at Larry. Just looking at him was already hard with how sad she was. Despite not being visible, others could tell she was smiling at him. She moved on and went to see Petey. She remembered all the times he joked.

"Do you really have to leave us?" Petey asked.

He did not joke this time. He wanted to play it safe to avoid being scolded.

"It's okay, Petey. You could've made the pun but guess I'll make it for you. I have to leaf." Ori joked.

"It's a shame I didn't find the answer I was looking for."

The swan nodded and went to Mario. The plumber looked at her with his usual cheerful look on his face.

"Mario, thank you for having been with me through all this adventure. I'm sorry if I have to leave you so soon but I can't stand leaving you and your friends with nothing. So, to return the favor, I'll give you and your friends your world back." Ori said.

With all her goodbyes done, she looked back at Gami who now had the seven guardians around him. She just approached them without saying anything but looked one last time at the dragon, still lifeless. She looked back at her brother.

"It's time." She whispered.

The nine origamis formed a circle near where the throne was supposed to be. They focused their energy but nothing seemed to be happening. They all looked around.

"Guardians! Where are your respective Origami Star?" Gami asked.

"That's strange. I had it all along." One of the guardians said.

"I also lost mine, guys! I knew I still had it while Ori was bidding farewell to the crowd." Another guardian brought up.

"How could you lose your… oh wait. I don't have mine and I knew I had it before Ori checked on Lord Igami!" Another one pointed out.

A small dispute began between the origamis. Without the Origami Stars, no one could use immense amounts of power to create anything. The crowd just looked at the origamis arguing, unsure if it was part of their ritual of whatever they were doing to rebuild their world. Mario then gasped when he noticed something unusual happening. He broke up the dispute between the origamis and pointed toward the dragon. The origamis looked at the dragon. It was now flying away from the throne room with the nine Origami Stars plus a grey one. It slowly waved at the throne room.

"Father!?" The royal origamis exclaimed.

They tried to follow the dragon but it went out of sight just by flying upward. Then, many sheets of carton lined themselves to rebuild the throne room preventing Ori and Gami to leave it from the huge opening. Afterwards, everyone heard sounds of thousands even millions of sheets being folded, cut and placed. The crowd left the throne through the main door. After venturing through the corridors again, they finally reached the exit. No one expected to be blinded by the sun. It was not there back in the throne room when they were there. They had to wait for their sight to adjust to the lighting. They were surprised to see the new scenery. The island was no longer floating high up in the sky above a black hole. It was now floating on an ocean of crystal clear water. Instead of the rainbow bridge the guardians had to summon with the Origami Stars, it was now a bridge that looked like it was made of marble and the island was much closer to the Iron Fortress. The sky was at its most beautiful light blue with not even a single cloud present. The crowd slowly entered the cathedral once again and left through the main door. The city was not completely rebuilt with all the inhabitants having been brought back. As the crowd walked down the main street, they attracted the attention of the townsfolks who stared at them. The crowd then stopped at a statue of the dragon. It was much smaller than he appeared back in the throne room. Ori slowly moved toward the statue with Gami right next to her.

"I can't believe he did this for all of us." Ori whispered.

"That's all he could do to repay his debts." Gami told her.

"He had nothing to repay. Some substance took over him. All this destruction wasn't his, Gami."

They both got frightened and immediately back away when the statue began moving. It stood up and reached nearly Petey's height who was taller than Bowser. It was not a statue. It was in fact the dragon from the Silver Palace but much smaller. It raised its head and looked at the crowd. Everyone around it looked at it with surprise.

"Ori… Gami…" It spoke.

The two royal origamis approached the dragon that slowly opened its arms. It took them in his arms and hugged them. Both Ori and Gami were glad to see and speak to their father once again. Gone are the days of sorrow. Gone are the days of despair. The dragon was once again himself. Princess Peach approached the dragon.

"Who are you?" She asked.

The dragon released the two origamis and looked at the princess.

"Igami…" It spoke.

"Just Igami? No King or Lord thing?" Bowser asked.

Igami shook his head. He was just like everyone else: An inhabitant of the Paper World. Following this, a parade took place all over the Rainbow Continent with Luigi leading it and Mario and friends each leading small groups. As for the origami family, they still reside in the Silver Palace but things were now different.


	24. Bonus

**Bonus**

"… And so ends the story of how Mario and friends saved the world once again."

It was late in the night, probably near midnight. Igami was sluggishly reading a book his children brought him. Having used his life force to rebuild the world impacted a lot on some of his personal capabilities and he had to relearn them. Fortunately, with Ori and Gami, he was able to learn again how to read in a few months but still had difficulties to read at a consistent pace. He was reading a story to his children to practise reading and, as expected, read the story of Mario's adventure in the Rainbow Continent. His children were lying down on the vast red carpet with golden trims as they listened to their father, sat on an armchair.

"Wow! That was an incredible story, father!" Ori cheered.

Following the adventure, the swan regained her happiness and no longer felt sorrow for her father. The disgust that invaded her mind left long ago now that she finally had her father back like he was before whatever that Substance was took over him.

"Ori, we were there when it happened. Remember?" Gami pointed out.

"I know but I never took the time to pay attention to everything. Then, this story reminded me how so much can go around us." Ori brought up.

Gami was about to agree with her but Igami raised a finger to his mouth and made a shhh to ask the royal origamis to keep it down. The two origamis looked at him.

"What's wrong, father? This room is far away from the guards. I doubt our voice will reach them." The swan asked.

This was not Igami's concern. He then used his finger to point to the other side of the room where a fireplace burned wood and provided some lighting to the obscured room. Near the fireplace, Mario and friends, all in pajama, were sleeping all over a couch. Mario was sleeping in the middle of the couch sat down, Birdo was to his left leaned on Larry who had his head resting on the arm of the couch. On the other side, Daisy was lying down on her back with her head on the other arm and was holding Tatanga in her arms. Petey was sleeping behind the couch since he would take too much space on it. The two young origamis approached their friends carefully. They did not want to wake them up.

"How rude it is to sleep on a story." Gami quietly commented.

"I wouldn't call it rude. People tell their children stories to make them sleep. That's why we call those bedtime stories." Ori whispered.

Igami, still sitting in the armchair, let out a quiet grunt that the two royal origamis heard. They looked back at their father who was staring at them with a look about to scold them.

"We should leave them alone." The paper plane concluded.

"Yeah… Let's get some sleep." Ori added.

The two origamis put out the fireplace and joined their father into the corridor. They were escorted to their room where the dragon kissed them goodnight. Afterwards, Igami left his children and closed the door behind. The room went pitch black but Ori and Gami's eyes glew in the dark. Neither went to sleep yet. They still felt concerned about one last thing before turning the page for good. Gami's eyes positioned themselves without moving too far away from its initial spot to look at Ori's eyes.

"Do you think it'll happen again?" Gami's eyes asked, concerned.

Ori's eyes rotated to look at Gami's.

"It will again happen if we don't understand it. Though, at least, we now know how to deal with it but we should do better than react to events. We must be able to foresee and prevent to not have another destruction of our world. I doubt we'll be able to pull that out again." Ori whispered.

Gami was unsure of what she said but closed his eyes. Ori looked back at the ceiling. She had a theory of what happened to his father and how it happened. Though, it was only a word she had in mind…

Envy…

THE END


End file.
